


Somebody's Hero

by themistrollsin



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Het, Wordcount: Over 30.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-06
Updated: 2011-10-05
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:39:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themistrollsin/pseuds/themistrollsin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kelly Blank is studying abroad in Scotland.  In one of her mandatory classes, she’s paired with Drew Galloway, a Scottish native.  It wouldn’t be so bad, but Kelly knows he’s hiding something.  Even knowing that fact, she lets him in and in turn, falls for him.  But when she finds out the truth about Drew, will she be able handle it and continue with what they share?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Beta:** scoobydumblonde

**Part 1**

Kelly listens as her mom goes through her check list for the fifth time since they’d walked into the airport. She had lost count as to how many times entirely. She knows Barbara just wants everything perfect. After all, this is the first time she’ll be away from home for four months. But this is what she wants to do. She’s always wanted to travel. Now she gets to travel while finishing college.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Barbara asks when they stop at her gate.

“Yes,” Kelly answers. She smiles at her mom. “I promise I’ll be okay.”

“I know you will be. Just promise me you’ll keep in touch.”

“I will mom.” Kelly hugs Barbara. She’s nervous and will admit that to anyone. But she knows she needs this. She thinks her entire family needs this. They’ve all become too comfortable with their everyday routines. This is the change they need.

“Have fun, sweetheart. Remember you’re there for school so do your schoolwork.”

“I will Mom.” Kelly smiles at Barbara after pulling back. They hear the boarding call for her flight and she knows she needs to get going. Kelly picks her carryon bag up and puts it over her shoulder.

“And don’t forget where you’re going,” Barbara says.

“I won’t. I’ll email you when I get settled. I promise. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Kelly says her goodbyes to the rest of her family before walking away. She turns and waves before she walks down the terminal. After finding her seat, she sits down and looks out the window. Ten and a half hours is how long it’ll take to get to Scotland. Kelly isn’t looking forward to that, but she knows it’ll be worth it in the end.

The takeoff is possibly the smoothest one Kelly’s ever had. She hopes that means the flight will be a good one. After receiving the okay to unfasten their seatbelts, Kelly does just that and leans down to her bag. She pulls out her MP3 player as well as her book. This will pass some of the time at least.

Kelly must have dozed off at some point because the next thing she remembers is one of the stewardesses rests her hand on her shoulder. Kelly pulls her ear buds out and looks up at her.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” the redhead, Jenna according to her name tag, says.

“It’s okay,” Kelly replies. “Is something wrong?”

“No, I just wanted to see if you were ready for your lunch.”

Kelly takes a look at her watch to see that it’s already noon. “Oh wow,” she says. “I didn’t realize it was so late already. Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Okay. Here is the list. I will be right back to take what you want.”

“Thank you.” Kelly wipes her eyes as she shifts. She can’t believe how few people are actually on the flight. However, she is glad that she has a row to herself. Looking down at the sheet of paper, Kelly looks over the food listings.

When the pilot announces they’ve just entered Scotland, Kelly looks out the window. She can’t help but smile a little at the scene down below. It’s so beautiful and Kelly can’t wait until she can see it from land level. She wonders what it’ll be like where she’s going.

Kelly walks into the line she was directed to after retrieving her bags. Hopefully this won’t take long because she really wants to get to the campus and catch a quick nap before trying to get herself onto the time change here.

An hour, Kelly can’t believe it took an hour to get through customs. But at least she made it through with no issues. Kelly walks outside, shivering slightly as the cold air hits her. Walking over to the side, Kelly hails a cab. She’s thankful when the driver is nice enough to help her with her bags.

“Thank you,” she says when the man closes the back.

“You’re welcome,” the man responds in his thick accent. “Where are you headed?”

“University of the West of Scotland, the Ayr campus.”

“Well, climb in. I’ll get you there.”

Kelly climbs into the back of the cab. She looks out the window as the driver pulls away from the curb. Looking at the dashboard, she finds his name, Benjamin, simple enough.

“I am going to guess you are here for the study program,” Benjamin says.

“I am,” Kelly replies. “I’ve always wanted to travel, so I figured this was a good way to start.”

“It is. My sister went to Chicago for ‘er study program. Where are you from?”

“Tampa, Florida.”

“That’s where my other sister wants to go. Disney, I’m sure you know ‘ow it is.”

Kelly nods as she smiles a little. “A lot of people want to go there.”

“I bet you practically lived there.”

“No, I really didn’t.” Kelly can see the surprised look on Benjamin’s face in the mirror and can’t help but smile. “I was always the one concentrating on my school work.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

They spend the rest of the ride in conversation. Kelly is glad she was able to have a cab ride with a driver like Benjamin. She’s been in plenty of cabs where the drivers hadn’t even muttered a hello. Benjamin, however, kept talking. It wasn’t annoying or overpowering. He just made simple talk and pointed out some places as they passed.

When they arrive in front of where she’s supposed to check in, Benjamin once again helps her with her bags. Kelly smiles up at him. “Thank you,” she says as she hands him the money for the ride. “Keep the change.”

Benjamin nods at her. “Thank you ma’am. Enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you.”

Kelly walks into an office and sets her bags down. The woman at the counter looks up and smiles when Kelly steps forward.

“Hello,” the woman says. “Seeing your luggage, I am going to guess you are one of our visiting students.”

Kelly grins. “Yes ma’am.”

“What’s your name?”

“Kelly Blank.” Kelly watches as the woman flips through a book.

“Welcome Miss Blank. I am Addison Kemp. Let me grab you your pack and then we will get you to your house.”

“Thank you.” Kelly looks around the office and smiles once again. This is it. She’s really here and this is really happening.

It takes another twenty minutes for her to get to the right place. But she manages to find where she needs to be and finds her place easily. She’s going to be sharing the place with three other students, all Americans according to Addison. Kelly fishes her key out and unlocks the door. Stepping inside, she can hear laughter from what she’s guessing is the living room. She closes the door and sets her bags to the side before walking toward the noise.

“Oh great, another blonde,” one of the girls says. Both girls roll their eyes before going back to their conversation.

Great, Kelly’s off to a great start. Turning, she walks back to her bags. She may as well find her room and start unpacking. Walking down the hall, Kelly finds the closed door that has her name on it. Along with her name, she sees another name as well, Natalie Neidhart. Kelly knocks on the door, in case Natalie is already here.

“Come in,” a voice says.

Kelly turns the handle and steps inside. The other girl looks over and smiles. That makes Kelly feel a little better. After not getting much other than attitudes from the other two, a smile is nice.

“You must be Kelly. I’m Nattie.”

“Hi Nattie.” Kelly sets the two bags she’s carrying on the empty bed before lifting her other one up onto the bed.

“I hope you don’t mind that I took this bed,” Nattie says. “I don’t like sleeping by windows.”

“That’s fine. I like it. So it works out well.”

“Good.” Nattie smiles as she takes a seat on her own bed. “Did you meet the other two?”

“If that’s what you want to call it. I walked in and the one says ‘great, another blonde’. Great meeting, right?”

“Yeah, they seem great.”

“Well, then I suppose you and I should stick together.”

Nattie smiles over at Kelly. “Sounds good.”

Kelly is thankful Nattie seems nice. After meeting the other two, she’ll have to learn their names eventually, this is nice. Unzipping her large bag, Kelly begins unpacking. She and Nattie make some small talk. She finds out Nattie is originally from Calgary but has lived in Tampa for the last five years. They both enjoy the outdoors and can’t wait to get out and see the sights in Scotland.

******

Sitting down at the small desk at the end of her bed, Kelly opens up her laptop. She’d promised she’d write her mom once getting settled for the most part. After taking care of all her clothes, Kelly decided she needs a break. So here she is, hoping to be able to connect to the internet so she can email her mom.

Glancing over, she sees Nattie sitting at her own desk with her laptop. “Did connecting give you any problems?” Kelly asks.

“No,” Nattie answers. “You shouldn’t have any problems.”

“Good. I promised my mom I would email when I got settled a little bit. She worries.”

“That’s my Dad. He may act big and bad, but he has three daughters and he’s a sucker when it comes to us.”

Kelly smiles as she looks back at her computer screen. “It’s nice to have a connection like that though.”

“Oh it is.”

Kelly opens up a tab for a new email. She puts in both of her parents’ email addresses in before typing a quick subject _made it_. Simple, but doesn’t really need to be any more than that.

 _I made it. Sitting at my desk right now. I have a great roommate. Her name is Natalie…though she goes by Nattie. I can already tell you that she and I will be good friends. The other two girls, not even sure of their names honestly, but they don’t seem to want to have anything to do with neither of us. I think we’re both okay with that._

 _Tomorrow, Nattie and I are going to head over to campus and have a look around. We’re hoping we can find our classes…which, by the way, she and I have a few of the same classes! That makes me feel so much better. I did read that each of us is going to be paired with someone from here for the entire semester. I’m not sure how I feel about this, but what can I do? I’ll get through it._

 _Anyways, I’m going to end for now. I want to get things a little more organized for tomorrow._

 _Love you and I’ll be thinking of you,  
Kelly_

Kelly sends the email before closing the lid of her laptop slightly. She looks over at Nattie who is looking through what looks like a small book of maps.

“Are you hungry?” Nattie asks. “Because I am and I really don’t want to attempt to find something on my own. And I doubt think Tweedledee and Tweedledum have any interest in either of us.”

Kelly grins. “I am hungry. So let’s go.”

Nattie closes their door behind them. Kelly can’t help but feel thankful that they’re able to lock it. The other two haven’t given her any reason to trust them. They walk in the direction where they figured out they needed to head. Kelly looks around the scenery and smiles. Everything is so beautiful. It’s so much more than she could have ever expected.

Kelly follows Nattie into a small diner and looks around. In the corner table, she sees a group of girls and boys around her age. The long haired male sitting at the end is the one that catches Kelly’s eye. He looks over as if sensing her watching him and Kelly quickly turns away.

“You two can sit anywhere,” someone from behind the counter says. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

Nattie gestures to the open table beside where the group is. Kelly follows her over and takes a seat, slipping her coat off. She had hoped she could sit with her back toward the boy, but Nattie had taken that seat before she could. Kelly tries to keep her focus on Nattie as they wait for their menus, but she can’t, especially when the boy looks over at her once again. When he smiles at her, Kelly can feel the heat in her cheeks. She turns away quickly, not wanting him to see her blush. It was such a simple gesture and it made her nervous.

“You two are new around here,” the woman says.

“Yeah, we just got here today,” Nattie responds.

“And definitely not from Scotland. You must be students then?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Welcome to Ayr. I’m Scarlet.” She hands each of them a menu. “I’ll let you look over everything and will be right back.”

Kelly flips the menu open, thankful she has a distraction. She’d never been very good in the boy department. In fact, she always seems to fall back when it comes to that. Maybe that was her own fault for always burying her nose in her school work, but she just hadn’t been interested in dating just because others were. Sure, she had a steady boyfriend before. In fact, they were together for quite some time. But in the end, Kelly wanted to focus on school. Besides it’s not like she’ll ever see this boy again. She knows she’s being ridiculous. But it’s just something she’s never been good at.

“Everything looks so good,” Nattie says.

“I know,” Kelly agrees. “I don’t know what to get.” Kelly flips to the last page of the menu and looks over each item.

When Kelly sees the boy stand up, she can’t help but look over. She watches as he tosses money onto the table before stalking out of the diner. Not without glancing at her real quick. Kelly glances back to watch him leave the diner. If she had her sister’s courage, she could have at least said hi to him. But she’s lost that chance. Oh well, it’s not like she’s going to be staying here.

******

Kelly pulls her long blonde hair into a ponytail and lets out a soft breath. She turns away from the bathroom mirror to see one of the other girls, Eve she finally learned, standing there.

“Are you done yet?” Eve asks with a roll of her eyes.

“Yeah,” Kelly answers. She grabs her things before walking out of the bathroom, flinching slightly when the door slams. She walks into her room and takes a seat at her desk to slip her shoes on. She sees Nattie doing the same at her own desk. “I have a map of the campus.”

“Okay good,” Nattie says. “And with our schedules we’ll hopefully be able to find where our classes are.”

Kelly nods. “I’m just glad we have some classes together.”

“Me too. It’ll make things so much easier. And I like you, so that helps.”

Kelly grins. “Right back at you.” Kelly stands up and grabs her bag. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

“Then let’s head out.” Nattie grabs her own bag before they head out.

Kelly slides her sunglasses on as they head in the direction of the campus. “It’s beautiful here.”

“It is,” Nattie replies.

Kelly smiles when Nattie links their arms together. It’s nice to know she has someone she can hang out with. After only a day, Kelly knows Nattie is going to be someone she can continue a friendship with even after they go back home.

When they stop in front of a building, Kelly slides her sunglasses up to rest on the top of her head and looks down at her map. “This is the right place,” she says.

As they’re walking inside, Kelly sees the same long haired boy that she had seen at the diner standing outside of what she’s guessing is a classroom. He looks over and smiles immediately. Kelly sucks in a deep breath and quickly looks away. When she meets Nattie’s smiling eyes, Kelly just shakes her head.

“You should talk to him,” Nattie says when they turn the corner.

Kelly shakes her head quickly. “I can’t,” she replies. “I just…” Kelly glances back to where the boy is still standing. What can she say? Nothing, because there really isn’t anything she can. She’s glad they’re away from him now and lets out a heavy breath.

“I would have never pegged you as the nervous type,” Nattie says. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it. Don’t take that the wrong way.”

Kelly grins. “I’ve just…especially when it comes to boys. That was always my sister’s thing. Me, I was more into my homework and getting into a good college.”

“So why psychology?”

Kelly shrugs. “I think I can relate to what people are going through. I really want to get into the therapy end of it. I just…I want to be able to help people in any way I can. I know what it’s like to be alone. People are amazed when I tell them I didn’t have many friends growing up. I had my group and I was happy with them.”

“Nothing wrong with having a small group of friends. It’s like that with me too.”

Kelly and Nattie spend the next hour roaming around the campus, seeking out where their classes will be held. Lucky for them, the places are relatively easy to locate. The hardest thing to find was the cafeteria, but they did manage to find that as well after a short time. They eat lunch while they’re there before heading back outside to check out more of the campus. Kelly is amazed at how many people are already moving around since classes don’t begin for another week. But it’s nice to see people around.

“There he is again,” Nattie says pointing over to where a group is standing.

Kelly looks over to see the boy waving his arms around as he talks to the others. The group laughs and Kelly watches as the dark haired girl next to him links her arm through his after he finishes.

“Come on,” Nattie says.

“What? Where are we going?” Kelly asks. She knows it’s a dumb question. They’re headed over to the group. “Nattie.”

“I promise it’s just to say hi.”

Kelly nods, even though she still doesn’t exactly want to go over. Nattie smiles at her as they stop.

“Hi,” Nattie says. “We just wanted to come over and say hi. Hope you don’t mind.”

Kelly watches as the boy turns and smiles at them. The girl beside him turns along with him. Kelly sucks in a deep breath, not sure why it’s even hitting her like this.

“Of course we don’t mind,” the boy says with a bright smile.

“Well good because I don’t take no very kindly. I’m Nattie Neidhart and this is Kelly Blank.”

“I am Drew McIntyre.” He shoots a look over at the girl beside him when she starts to speak up.

“Right, I’m Layla El. The other tall one is Wade Barrett. And that’s Justin Gabriel and Sheamus Farrelly.”

“It’s nice to meet you. We just got here yesterday and don’t know, well anyone. So…”

“You wanted to meet someone,” Drew finishes.

“Yes, exactly.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing we’re here.”

“I suppose it is.” Nattie looks at Kelly and smiles. “Well, we should probably go attempt to find some more places and hopefully not get lost on the way back to our place.”

“When in doubt, turn left,” Wade says.

Drew laughs. “Don’t listen to him. If you get lost, stop somewhere and ask. You will find someone who will help you.”

“Thank you.”

“It was nice meeting you both.”

“Nice meeting all of you. Bye.”

“Bye Kelly,” Drew says.

Kelly sucks in a deep breath at the way he says her name. “Bye,” she manages to say quietly before she and Nattie walk away.

“Well, at least you said bye,” Nattie says when they are out of earshot of the group.

Kelly grins. “I’m sorry,” she mutters. “I get nervous around boys. My ex always made me nervous. That’s not really my territory. I’ve never been good there.”

Nattie grins. “We’ll change that. Now, I won’t force anything on you. I just want you to be less nervous when it comes to boys.”

Kelly simply nods. There’s nothing to say to the comment because it’s what she wants. She doesn’t want to always be nervous around them. It’s not as if she says that’s what she’s going to be. It just happens. There was nothing different when it came to her relationship with Randy.

After spending a little more time looking around, Nattie and Kelly decide it’s time to head back to their place. They stop at small grocery store to pick up some food for dinner and then finally make it back. Luckily, they had remembered exactly how they left, so they were able to get back with ease.

Kelly folds the bag after putting everything away and sets it on the pantry shelf. She can hear Nattie singing softly as she continues setting up their cabinet. Turning around, Kelly closes the pantry door behind her and walks over, leaning against the counter.

“All right, so we can get our books on Monday,” Nattie says.

“I couldn’t remember if it was Monday or Tuesday,” Kelly replies. “Good thing you’re here.” She smiles over at Nattie when she looks at her. “Hopefully we won’t have huge books. I want to be done with the big ones.”

Nattie laughs softly. “Well, I’m guessing the Scottish Lit might be a big one. But what do I know?”

Kelly grins. “Well, if one book is big, fine. But let’s hope all of them aren’t.”

******

Kelly looks at her list and back up at the shelf. She wonders if Nattie had any trouble finding any of her books. Letting out a soft breath, she squats down to take another look on the bottom shelf.

“You look lost,” someone says.

Kelly looks up to find Drew standing there. “I um…” she stops trying to figure out what she wants to say. “I can’t find one of my books.”

“Which are you looking for?”

Kelly stands up and holds her sheet out to point to the book she needs. “Scottish History. I’m probably just overlooking it because I tend to do that with most things. It’s typical of me. Everyone always pegs me…” Kelly closes her mouth when she realizes she had started babbling. “Sorry.”

Drew grins. “No need to apologize. It’s over here. They ran out of room on the shelves so they stacked them here.”

Kelly follows Drew to the back wall where he leans down to grab a book. “Thank you.” She hates that she has so many books, but she simply gestures for Drew to set this one on the stack.

Drew does so hesitantly, knowing he should offer to carry her books, or at least a few of them. But Kelly seems to be the kind of girl that would quickly object to that. She’s the strong natured girl that Drew adores. “You’re welcome. I suppose I will be seeing you in the class.”

“You’re taking Scottish History?” Kelly didn’t mean to sound so surprised, but that’s the way it came out. She hadn’t expected to hear that from Drew. Why would he be taking…? Well, it is a dumb question. There are people who take U.S. History back home. It’s no different. “Sorry, that was a dumb question.” Besides, she loves history.

“No, it wasn’t. I am a history major and that is the last one I need. Other than the other classes I’m taking.”

“History major?”

“With a minor in architecture.” Drew grins. “How about you?”

“Psychology is my major. I have a minor in history.”

“Well, then maybe we’ll…”

“Drew,” Layla says walking over. “Come on. We’re ready.”

“I’m coming. I guess I’ll see you in class.”

Kelly nods. “Okay.”

“Goodbye, Kelly.”

“Bye.” Kelly chews on her bottom lip as she watches Drew walk away with Layla. The way he says her name sends shivers down her spine. Kelly shifts her books and walks over to the next aisle to retrieve her last book. She should have made a couple of trips instead of getting all at once. At least she’s getting her book bag here as well, that will hopefully help when carrying them home.

“I saw you talking to Drew,” Nattie says stepping up next to Kelly.

“He was helping me find one of my books,” Kelly responds.

Nattie smiles widely. “Do you have any classes together?”

“Yes. Scottish History.”

“Well, there you go. You’ll have a chance to talk to him again.”

“We’ll see.” Kelly pulls the last book she needs off the shelf. “I really should have grabbed a bag first. But oh well.”

“We’re in the same boat.”

After getting everything paid for, they walk out of the school bookstore. Kelly groans as she slides the book bag onto her back. She can’t believe how heavy her books are. And she hasn’t even added notebooks and folders yet. She can only imagine what it’ll be like then.

“You look like you’re going to fall over,” Kelly hears as they step outside. She looks over to see Drew leaning against the rail. “Yes, I’m talking to you, Kelly.”

Kelly shoots a look at Nattie when she laughs softly. “My books are just really heavy,” Kelly manages to say.

“Well, we can’t have that.” Drew jogs over, stepping in front of the girls, and stopping so they will too. “Give me your bag.”

“Excuse me?”

Drew grins and holds his hand out. “Hand it over.”

“I um…” Kelly wants to decline. This boy barely knows her so why would he want to carry her bag? He could just be being nice. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it would be sweet if that were the case.

“Don’t make this difficult, Kelly.”

Kelly watches as Drew looks over at his own group. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Wade step over to Nattie.

“Hand them over, ladies,” Wade says.

“Such a gentleman,” Nattie says as she slides her bag off her shoulders and lets Wade take it.

Kelly takes a deep breath as she does the same, handing Drew her bag. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Drew says. “Lead the way.”

Kelly glances at Nattie as they start their walk back to their place. She’s not sure what to make of this. What does this even mean? Drew could just be trying to get something she’s not willing to give. But what if this is something more? What if Drew really wants to be friends? Kelly can’t let that go.

“So where are you from?” Drew asks.

“Florida,” Kelly answers. “Tampa.”

“Never been there.”

“Have you ever been to the United States?” Wade asks with a chuckle.

“Yes. I went to Chicago a few years ago.”

“Right. What about you, Nattie?”

Kelly sees the bright smile appear on Nattie’s face. She wonders if it’s for Wade remembering her name.

“I’m from Tampa,” Nattie answers. “Where are you from? Because you don’t sound anything like Drew.”

“I’m from Preston. England.”

“So what brings you here?”

Wade chuckles. “School mostly.”

“And girls,” Drew says. “Because you know Scottish girls are much better than English girls.”

“But we all know American…” Wade stops, looking at Nattie and Kelly. “Never mind.”

“No, I’d like to hear this,” Nattie says.

“He was going to say American girls are easy,” Drew says.

Kelly rolls her eyes. “That is a typical male response about women. And I can guarantee you that there are easy women here as well. Don’t believe everything you hear in the media.” Kelly reaches over and tugs on her bag that’s resting on Drew’s shoulder. “Give me my bag please.”

They all stop walking as Kelly shoots a glare up at Drew. Drew doesn’t argue, letting Kelly take her bag.

“Kelly,” Drew tries.

“Save it.” Kelly walks away, leaving Drew and Wade stunned at the reaction. Nattie can’t help but laugh softly as she takes her bag from Wade.

“Wade, Drew,” Nattie says.

Kelly walks into their bedroom and lets out a heavy breath. She drops her bag on the bed before plopping down beside it. She hates that she reacted the way she did. It definitely wasn’t intentional. But when they had mentioned that it just set her off. She hates how people think of the women in America as easy. She can’t help but wonder if this is how Drew feels about them as well.

“Hey,” Nattie says. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Kelly answers. “Sorry for that.”

“No need to apologize. It pissed me off a bit too.”

Kelly shrugs. “I just hate when people say that.”

“Me too.”

Kelly looks over at Nattie. She knows she probably over reacted, but what Wade had said, or rather Drew, is something that has always bothered her. As she pulls her feet up to sit cross legged, Kelly watches Nattie.

“Drew looked lost when you walked away,” Nattie points out. “And not over why you walked away.”

Kelly doesn’t want to get her hopes up; after all she is just another American girl. So it wouldn’t be anything more than that. Letting out a heavy breath, she flops back on her bed. How could she think he was trying to be friendly when he offered to carry her bag? What a way to start this whole thing. She hadn’t expected to meet a boy who gave her butterflies right away. She certainly hadn’t expected to be hurt like this either. But why is she hurting? It’s not like they had anything. She barely knew Drew. She really can’t let this get to her. In fact, she’s going to put it behind her and enjoy her time here.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

Drew Galloway lets out a soft breath as he zips the last of his bags. Another trip back to school tonight and he doesn’t even know why he bothered coming home for the holidays. It’s not as if he would have been missed had he stayed on campus. Drew grabs his cell phone and shoves it in his back pocket before he takes his bags and walks out of his bedroom. He can remember years ago when he hated going to school. But now, now he couldn’t wait to return.

“Hey stranger,” he hears the moment he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey there,” Drew says. He drops his bags and pulls the dark haired girl into a hug. “I can’t wait to get out of here.” Layla, his best female friend, he loves that she’s here.

Layla smiles up at him. “Poor baby.” Reaching up, she pats Drew’s cheek. “Come on Tiger. We can go as soon as you get your stuff out to your car.”

“How’d you get here?”

“The same way I always get here.”

Drew grins at the way Layla sounds annoyed with her answer. Of course he knows how she had gotten here; Drew just wanted to see what her answer would be. Leaning down, he picks his bags up once again. Layla’s right, the sooner he gets his car packed, the sooner they can leave. He follows Layla outside and down to his car. Layla lifts the trunk so Drew can load their bags.

“So, maybe we’ll get lucky this semester and we’ll find our soul mates.”

Drew laughs softly as they make their way back inside. “Why are you so worried about finding your soul mate? Why not let him find you?”

“Because then what would I have to complain about to you?”

“Right. Besides, let’s worry about finishing school.” Drew lets out a soft breath as he makes his way into the large, unwelcome living room. “Mum, Dad, I’m leaving.”

“Have a good semester,” Brandon says not even looking up from his papers.

Drew shakes his head. “Mum.”

“Fine sweetie.”

Drew throws his hands up in frustration before walking out of the room. This is nothing new, so far from new actually. He doesn’t know why he even bothers with trying to get their attention any more. It’s not as if they really know what’s going on in his life. They haven’t known for years.

“Drew,” Layla says catching up with him. “You know they…”

“They are who they are,” Drew interrupts. “I’m used to it.” Drew opens the passenger’s door so Layla can get in.

“You’re sweet.” Layla presses a kiss to Drew’s cheek before climbing in.

Drew pulls out of the driveway and he couldn’t be happier to be out of that house and off to someplace where he feels at home. How can a temporary living situation feel more at home then his supposed real home? Letting out a heavy breath, Drew takes a quick glance in the rearview mirror. This is it. After this semester, he’s finished with school and he’s leaving. He can’t take being here anymore. He doesn’t want the life his parents have. And he knows Brandon and Maggie want Drew to have what they do. But that’s never been him. He’s never wanted it.

“Wade is meeting us there,” Layla says breaking the silence. “He’s probably already there.”

“Knowing Wade,” Drew comments. “Are Brie and Nikki there already?”

“Don’t know and it doesn’t really matter. They’ve change their suite for this semester. They wanted to be on their own. Probably a good thing, they’re always arguing about something.”

Drew laughs softly. “Yeah, they are. So who are you with then?”

“Maryse. Figured it was about time anyways. We’ve been talking about rooming together for the last two years.”

“Good luck with her.”

“Ryse isn’t that bad.”

Drew rolls his eyes at that statement. Layla’s right, Maryse really isn’t that bad, but after dealing with her for ten years of his life, he’s tired of her inane bullshit. He doesn’t want to be the one that has to fix everything. Knowing Maryse that’s exactly what will happen. He takes a quick look over to Layla.

“She’s not,” he says softly. “I’m just tired of it all.”

“I know you are.” Layla pats Drew’s leg.

Drew pulls into the parking lot of their building. He finds a parking space and looks over at Layla after shutting the car off. “Are you ready for this?” he asks.

“Of course,” Layla answers.

Drew laughs softly as he climbs out of the car. He walks to the back, opening the trunk so they can bring their things inside. “So how many do you think will be with the study abroad program?”

“No idea. I just know Wade is excited about meeting some of the Americans.”

“Wade is an idiot.”

“Thank you,” Wade says walking over. “I’m proud of that fact.”

Drew laughs softly. “Of course you are.”

“Why am I an idiot this time?”

“American girls,” Layla answers.

“I can’t wait to meet some.”

Drew rolls his eyes as they make their way toward their building. “I think you need to worry about finishing school.”

“Because you’re so perfect.”

“Of course he is,” Layla says with a smile.

Drew groans. This is what he gets for being friends with these two. But at least it’s getting him away from his family. And in reality, he really wouldn’t change anything with these two. Wade opens the door to their suite and they all walk in. Drew walks through the sitting room and into his bedroom. He drops his bags on his bed and lets out a heavy breath.

It’s almost over. In a few months, everything will be over and he can finally get out on his own. He can finally get away from all of this that’s been practically holding him back. He can get away from his parents’ lives and make one for his own. He has no idea where he’s going to go, he just knows he wants to be away from here, even for a while.

When Layla plops down on his bed, Drew’s not at all surprised. “Penny for your thoughts,” she says.

“You don’t want to hear them,” Drew mutters. “I just want to get unpacked. The quicker I get unpacked, the quicker I can forget about being home this last month. It was hell. Just like always.”

Layla smiles sadly at Drew. “How about tomorrow we go to everybody’s favorite diner?”

“That sounds great.” It sounds perfect. Drew has missed being able to go to the diner. His parents would never allow him to go there.

Drew goes about unpacking with Layla watching his every move. He knows as soon as he and Wade are finished they’ll be heading up to the fourth floor to Layla’s room that she’s apparently now sharing with Maryse. Letting out a heavy breath, Drew shakes his head. Maryse is just another reminder of everything. He likes the girl. He does. He’s just tired of everything she brings up.

“Drew, hurry up,” Wade yells from the sitting room.

Drew rolls his eyes at his best friend’s impatience. He shoves his empty suitcases into the corner of the bedroom. He’ll deal with putting them away later. He knows Wade won’t last much longer without getting out. “All right, let’s go before that jackass has a fit.”

Layla smiles as she slides off the bed. She slips her arm through Drew’s and they make their way out of the bedroom.

“You can get her bags,” Drew says as he leads Layla out of the suite.

“Not fair,” Wade calls after them.

“I feel so sorry for you.”

Drew and Wade sit on Layla’s bed as she unpacks her things. Drew hopes they’ll miss Maryse but doubt that’ll actually happen. Besides, he’s going to have to see her eventually as she’s been a part of the group for years. He should just get over it. But then she’ll say something that makes him start all over again.

“Hello,” Maryse says from the sitting room.

Drew groans and leans against the headboard. Wade laughs softly. Drew shoots him a glare. Wade is the only one who knows everything that’s happened between Drew and Maryse. He couldn’t tell Layla everything because she and Maryse are too good of friends. Drew wouldn’t say anything to jeopardize that.

“In here Ryse,” Layla calls out. “Drew, be nice.”

“I’m always nice.” Drew flashes a bright smile as Maryse walks in.

“Hello boys,” she says.

Drew waves, not wanting to speak to the girl right now. He’ll be dealing with her for the rest of the semester so she can handle him not saying anything to her for a day; at least he wouldn’t unless she said something to him first. He’s not going be the one to start the conversation.

After Layla finishes unpacking, they make their way out to the sitting room. Drew takes a seat on the chair to let the other three have the couch. This way he can keep his distance from Maryse.

“So, how are you parents Drew?” Maryse asks.

Drew lets his head fall back onto the chair and sighs. “They’re fine,” he answers.

“Good.”

“Yeah.” Drew lifts his head and looks at Layla who simply smiles at him.

“What do we want to do for food?” Wade asks quickly changing the subject.

“I say we just head to the cafeteria,” Layla answers. “We’re going to the diner tomorrow, so it’s probably better that we stick here tonight.”

“I agree,” Drew says.

“Fine,” Wade says. “I’m going to go take a nap before we go.”

Drew laughs softly. “Yeah, I’m going to head down and get some things set up again. We’ll meet you over there at six.”

“Sounds good.”

Drew and Wade walk out of the suite. Wade grins over at Drew as they make their way toward the stairs.

“Way to make it obvious that you just want to be away from Maryse,” Wade says.

Drew shrugs. “She knows how I feel and she continues to act like there’s nothing wrong.”

“Ever think you just need to sit her down and talk to her?”

“I’ve tried. You know Maryse. She won’t have any of it.” Drew lets out a heavy breath and shrugs. He wishes he could just talk to Maryse. It would make everything so much easier. But the girl will never listen to him. He’s tried numerous times to sit down with her and talk. Every time he’s failed.

******

Drew isn’t surprised when the group makes their way to the corner table of the diner. It’s become their table over the years. Drew slips out of his coat and hangs it on the back of his chair before taking a seat. He’s glad to be able to be here again. They started coming here when they started school and have yet to get enough of the place. Drew sits back when Scarlet walks over to set their drinks down.

“You remembered,” Drew says smiling up at her.

“Like I could forget,” Scarlet says. She pats Drew’s cheek after getting the drinks passed out. “All right, do you need a few minutes? Or is it all of the usual?”

“Usual,” everyone at the table say simultaneously.

Drew grins and shakes his head. This is what he’s missed. This group right here is more like family to him then his own family is.

“Should have known,” Scarlet mutters as she walks away.

Drew glances over when he hears the door open. Two blondes walk in, both looking a little out of place. Drew raises an eyebrow as the girl in front relaxes almost right away, while the other girl, however, seems to want to run out of the diner. It appears she wants nothing to do with any of this atmosphere. But maybe he’s just looking at it wrong. He looks back at his group. When he feels a set of eyes on him, he has to look back over. Blue eyes quickly look away, but not before their eyes meet for a moment. Drew takes a deep breath as he watches her. He could definitely get lost in her eyes. People would have to be crazy not to get lost in them.

“You two can sit anywhere,” Scarlet says from behind the counter. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

“How many classes do you have?” Justin asks. “I’m hoping my four won’t kill me. But it’s my last four.”

Drew looks back at his group, hoping to be able to focus on what’s going on.

“I’m in my last five,” Sheamus answers. “Thank God.”

“You wouldn’t have so many if you would have taken more in your previous semesters,” Layla points out. “I only have two.”

“Not all of us can take six classes a semester,” Wade says. “We aren’t as crazy as you. I’m happy with my four classes.”

Drew laughs softly. “Layla’s just mad because we won’t be with her all the time. Down to my last four. Would have been three, but I decided to go ahead with one more drawing class.”

“Of course,” the other five say.

“Drew,” Maryse says. “You know what your problem is?”

“No, Ryse, what’s my problem?” Drew looks over at Maryse, waiting to hear whatever she has to say.

“You don’t know what you want.”

Drew stares at Maryse and lets out a low laugh. “You couldn’t be farther from the truth. I know exactly what I want.”

“Wanting to get out of your parents…”

“Leave my parents out of this.” Drew shoots a glare at Maryse. He hates when she brings them up and he knows she knows it. He also knows that’s the reason she always does bring them up. “I’m tired of being in everyone’s shadow. I want my own life. Is that so wrong?”

Layla pats his arm and smiles at him. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.”

Drew pushes back from the table and stands up. “I think I’m just going to leave.” He tosses some money on the table. “I’ll see you later.” Grabbing his coat, he pulls it on quickly.

“Drew,” Layla says.

“Just don’t.” Drew walks by the two blondes, glancing at the blue eyed one quickly before walking out. He zips his coat and makes his way toward campus. This is exactly why he hates being around Maryse. She always brings his parents up.

******

Drew walks into the main building and lets out a soft breath. He already sees Maryse’s blonde hair. Of course she’s there, why wouldn’t she be? She is part of the group. Walking over to the group, he shoves his hands into his jean pockets. “Did I miss anything?” he asks.

“Wade’s looking for girls,” Maryse answers. “Not that we should be at all surprised.” She elbows him lightly. “We okay?”

Drew nods, bumping her a little. “We’re fine. Sorry I stormed out.” This is what they do. This is nothing new. They argue and then they apologize. It’s only a matter of time before they’ll start arguing again. It’s been like this for years and Drew doesn’t see it changing any time soon.

“I need to learn to not bring them up.”

“It would be nice.”

Maryse smiles up at Drew. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“I’ll make you cookies.”

“I think I’ll pass. But thanks.” Drew winks at her.

“Your loss. All right. I need to go find my speech professor. I have a question for her. So I’ll meet you outside.”

Drew steps to the side and lets her pass. “I think we’re all here for a reason. So why not get that done and over with and then meet out there?”

“Sounds good,” Layla says.

They all go their separate ways. Drew makes his way to the history offices where he knows he’ll find the one professor he needs to speak with. Knocking on the open door, Drew watches as the man looks up.

“Mr. Galloway,” he says. “Come on in and have a seat.”

Drew nods and steps in. He takes a seat, wiping his hands on his jeans in a nervous manner. “I’m sorry to interrupt you like this.”

“No need to apologize. What can I do for you?”

“I was talking with my advisor and she mentioned a project in your history class. I was just wondering if you could fill me in on what to expect. I know I should wait until class actually starts. But you’ve known me for quite some time and know that I can’t handle that.”

It’s the truth. Drew has had Donald Kennedy for at least one class every semester he’s been here. And he’s not surprised when the man just chuckles and shakes his head.

“Drew, sometimes I have to wonder why you chose history as your major. Not because you aren’t a good student. You’re the exact opposite actually. You are an amazing student. The problem is I’ve seen you in my classes. You seem to get bored easily.”

Drew grins. “Only because I tend to read ahead.”

“I know you do. That’s how I know you really want this. Now I’m getting away from your question, for which I’m sorry. But what are you plans after you graduate?”

“I don’t know. I think I want to travel. Learn more.”

“Good. Do that. That will help with both your history and your architecture. As for your question. We have twenty in the class. Ten from the United Kingdom or at least who’ve been here at school for a while and the other ten are our study abroad students. I’m going to change things up for this and split you into groups of two. That way the study students don’t feel so out of place.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“It will be. And I promise things won’t be weird. I’ll make things fun.”

“I’m sure you will. Thank you Professor Kennedy.”

“You’re welcome. Anything else I can do for you?”

“Not right now. I’ll see you next week.” Drew stands up, shaking the man’s hand before walking out. He makes his way through the halls and out the front doors. He’s not surprised to find Wade already out there.

Drew bumps Layla lightly as they stand outside. “All right, Maryse. We really need to have a talk,” he says.

“What’d I do now?” Maryse asks.

“You offered to make me cookies!” Drew exaggerates his movements in saying no. “You can’t cook. I do not want you to make me cookies.” The group, including Maryse, laughs and Layla slips her arm through Drew’s.

“Hi,” someone from behind them says.

Drew turns as the voice continues.

“We just wanted to come over and say hi. Hope you don’t mind.”

Drew smiles at them as Layla drops her arm and turns as well. The two girls he’d seen at the diner. Of course, the blue eyed girl is standing slightly behind the other.

“Of course we don’t mind,” Drew says.

“Well good because I don’t take no very kindly. I’m Nattie Neidhart and this is Kelly Blank.”

Kelly, so he finally has her name. “I am Drew McIntyre.” He shoots a look over at the girl beside him when she starts to speak up. He hopes she gets the look, because he doesn’t want her speaking the name. If they’re going to find out his name then he’s going to be the one telling them.

“Right, I’m Layla El. The other tall one is Wade Barrett. And that’s Justin Gabriel and Sheamus Farrelly.”

“It’s nice to meet you. We just got here yesterday and don’t know, well anyone. So…”

“You wanted to meet someone,” Drew finishes.

“Yes, exactly.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing we’re here.”

“I suppose it is.” Nattie looks at Kelly and smiles. “Well, we should probably go attempt to find some more places and hopefully not get lost on the way back to our place.”

“When in doubt, turn left,” Wade says.

Drew laughs. “Don’t listen to him. If you get lost, stop somewhere and ask. You will find someone who will help you.”

“Thank you.”

“It was nice meeting you both.”

“Nice meeting all of you. Bye.”

“Bye Kelly,” Drew says.

“Bye,” Kelly says softly. So softly, Drew barely catches it.

He smiles as they walk away. Kelly was obviously nervous and Drew can’t help but wonder why. He also can’t help but want to get to know her. He wants to be around her to be able to get her to talk.

“Isn’t that the same girl you were staring at in the diner?” Layla asks.

Drew turns his attention back to his group. “I wasn’t staring at her.”

“Right. So when are you going to admit to people who you are?”

“When they stop making a big deal out of it. Yes, I’m Drew Galloway, big deal. Get the fuck over it already.”

Layla raises an eyebrow at him. She rests her hand on Drew’s arm. “Drew…”

“Look, I’m sorry. It just bothers me.”

“It’s okay.”

Wade squeezes Drew’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go eat,” Wade says.

Drew simply nods and follows the group. He hates that he lets the whole name thing bother him. But he also hates how people treat him when they find out he’s a Galloway. So he just makes things much easier and states that he’s a McIntyre, which isn’t a complete lie.

******

Drew pays for his books, shoves them into his book bag, and sets them to the side to wait for his group to finish. How did he always manage to get done before all of them? Especially Layla with her two classes, figures she’d take a long time though. Drew lets out a heavy breath as he walks over to find where Layla is. As he turns the corner, he sees Kelly squatting down. He raises an eyebrow as he walks over, stopping beside her.

“You look lost,” Drew says.

Kelly looks up and Drew flashes a bright smile. “I um…” she stops trying to figure out what she wants to say. “I can’t find one of my books.”

“Which are you looking for?” Drew steps back when Kelly stands up. He takes the sheet she’s holding out and looks down to where she’s pointing.

“Scottish History. I’m probably just overlooking it because I tend to do that with most things. It’s typical of me. Everyone always pegs me…” Kelly closes her mouth when she realizes she had started babbling. “Sorry.”

Drew grins. He’s amazed that before he barely got a bye out of her and now she’s rambling. “No need to apologize. It’s over here. They ran out of room on the shelves so they stacked them here.”

Drew leads Kelly to the back wall. He grabs the book he had just purchased himself and holds it up for Kelly to see.

“Thank you,” Kelly says.

Drew raises an eyebrow at her stack of books. When she gestures to just put the book on her stack, he does so hesitantly, knowing he should offer to carry her books, or at least a few of them. But Kelly seems to be the kind of girl that would quickly object to that. She’s the strong natured girl that Drew adores. “You’re welcome. I suppose I will be seeing you in the class.”

“You’re taking Scottish History?”

Drew grins. The question didn’t exactly surprise him. But he hadn’t expected the confused tone in her voice. It was almost as if she thought it was unbelievable that he was taking the class.

“Sorry, that was a dumb question,” Kelly continues.

“No, it wasn’t. I am a history major and that is the last one I need. Other than the other classes I’m taking.”

“History major?”

“With a minor in architecture.” Drew grins. “How about you?”

“Psychology is my major. I have a minor in history.”

“Well, then maybe we’ll…”

“Drew,” Layla says walking over. “Come on. We’re ready.”

Drew looks over and practically glares at her. She just had to choose now to come over. “I’m coming. I guess I’ll see you in class.”

Kelly nods. “Okay.”

“Goodbye, Kelly.”

“Bye.”

Drew grabs his bag from the front before following his group out of the bookstore. He desperately wants to turn and stay with Kelly. But he knows his group wouldn’t let him live it down. So instead he stays with them.

“We have to wait for Ryse,” Layla says.

Drew rolls his eyes. Leave it to Maryse to be behind. “Fine.” Leaning against the brick rail, Drew groans. Layla forced him to leave and now they’re just standing here when he could have stayed in there and continued talking with Kelly. Letting out a heavy breath, he looks over to Wade is staring out onto the lawn. Drew knows that his best friend doesn’t want to just stand here either.

When the door opens, Drew looks over hoping that it’s Maryse. He smiles when he sees Kelly and Nattie walk out, so much better than Maryse. He can’t help but laugh to himself at the way Kelly is walking.

“You look like you’re going to fall over,” he says. He grins when Kelly looks over quickly. “Yes, I’m talking to you, Kelly.”

“My books are just really heavy,” Kelly says, obviously still a little stunned Drew said anything to her.

“Well, we can’t have that.” Drew walks over, stepping in front of the girls, and stopping so they will too. “Give me your bag.”

“Excuse me?”

Drew grins and holds his hand out. “Hand it over.”

“I um…” Kelly tries to speak.

Drew smiles, knowing she desperately wants to decline his offer. “Don’t make this difficult, Kelly.” Drew throws a look over at Wade, a look Wade knows well and his best friend steps over to Nattie.

“Hand them over, ladies,” Wade says.

“Such a gentleman,” Nattie says as she slides her bag off her shoulders and lets Wade take it.

Drew watches Kelly and isn’t surprised when she reluctantly slides her bag off her shoulders.

“Thank you,” Kelly says.

“You’re welcome,” Drew replies. “Lead the way.” Drew watches as Kelly glances over at Nattie as they begin their walk. He can’t help but wonder why she’s being so hesitant. Sure, they don’t know each other. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be polite and carry her bag, plus he wants to get to know her.

“So where are you from?” Drew asks.

“Florida,” Kelly answers. “Tampa.”

“Never been there.”

“Have you ever been to the United States?” Wade asks with a chuckle.

“Yes. I went to Chicago a few years ago.” Drew grins over at Wade and shakes his head.

“Right. What about you, Nattie?”

“I’m from Tampa,” Nattie answers. “Where are you from? Because you don’t sound anything like Drew.”

“I’m from Preston. England.”

“So what brings you here?”

Wade chuckles. “School mostly.”

“And girls,” Drew says. “Because you know Scottish girls are much better than English girls.”

“But we all know American…” Wade stops, looking at Nattie and Kelly. “Never mind.”

“No, I’d like to hear this,” Nattie says.

“He was going to say American girls are easy,” Drew says with a sigh. Why did he have to start that?

“That is a typical male response about women,” Kelly states. “And I can’t guarantee you that there are easy women here as well. Don’t believe everything you hear in the media.” Kelly reaches over and tugs on her bag that’s resting on Drew’s shoulder. “Give me my bag please.”

They all stop walking as Kelly shoots are glare up at Drew. Drew doesn’t argue, letting Kelly take her bag.

“Kelly,” Drew tries. He has to try saying something.

“Save it.” Kelly walks away, leaving Drew and Wade stunned at the reaction. Nattie can’t help but laugh softly as she takes her bag from Wade.

“Wade, Drew,” Nattie says.

Drew looks at Wade after Nattie walks away. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asks. “You can’t just blurt out things like that around people you don’t know. God Wade. Thank you very much. I finally get her to talk to me and you have to be typical Wade Barrett.”

Wade holds his hands up in defeat. “I’m sorry,” he says. “It slipped. Honest. I hadn’t meant for that to come out.”

Drew nods and sighs. “I just…”

“Have a thing for Kelly.”

Drew rolls his eyes. “Not exactly a thing. I just…there’s something…it’s dumb. But she was talking. And she seemed willing to continue to talk.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Forget it. Let’s just go.” Drew takes one last look behind him where Kelly and Nattie are still walking before he heads back toward main campus.

When they walk into their suite, Drew kicks his shoes off and sets his bag down by his bedroom door. He hated watching Kelly storm off the way she did. He definitely didn’t want to start off this way with her. He just hopes the next time they see each other he’ll be able to talk to her and get her to understand Wade hadn’t really meant anything by it.

It’s no secret Wade finds the American girls more willing to jump into bed with him. But Drew knows it’s because of the accent and not the American way. He also knows Wade is aware of that. When they are alone in their group, Wade will joke around about the girls, but nothing that ever is more than that.

Drew plops down on the couch and runs a hand over his face. What a way to be properly introduced to Kelly. She thinks he’s scum. There’s no question of that. Drew just hopes he’ll be able to prove he’s not. He hopes he’ll be able to prove Wade isn’t. Sure they aren’t perfect, but who is? Maybe he deserves this. This would get him back for everything he’s ever done.

Wade walks over. “You mad at me?” he asks as he sits down on the other end of the couch.

Drew shakes his head. “No,” he answers. “More mad at myself. I know you didn’t mean anything by it. I just hope Kelly will let me explain.” Explain how she misunderstood and that Wade truly isn’t a bad guy. That he isn’t a bad guy and it’s just a little joke they have going. Maybe not a smart joke, but jokes aren’t meant to be smart.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

Kelly walks into her first class and lets out a soft breath. This is really it. This is her first real test of whether or not she’ll be able to handle all of this. Looking around the room, Kelly chews on her bottom lip. If only Nattie would have been in her first class. She would feel so much better if she was. But at least they’re in their second class together.

“Hi Kelly,” someone says from beside her.

Kelly looks over, not completely surprised to see Drew standing there. She knew they would be in this class together. “Hi,” she replies politely.

“Listen, I was hoping we could talk before class started.”

“I have nothing to say to you.” Kelly walks away and makes her way to a seat in the front row. When Drew sits down in the seat beside her, Kelly practically glares at him.

“Please, just listen to me. If you don’t want to talk to me or have anything to do with me afterwards, fine. But I think I deserve a chance to talk.”

“Then talk.”

“He didn’t mean anything by it. He goofs around like that. If you get to know him you’ll see that. Yes, he should have kept his mouth shut. And it’s no secret he finds the American girls sexy as hell. But he’s not an idiot. Besides, do you really have anything to be upset with me for?”

“You all think the same way.”

“Right, I forgot, because all males have the same brain.”

Kelly rolls her eyes and turns her attention toward the front of the classroom. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant…look I don’t have to explain myself to you or your friends. I’m just tired of hearing what us Americans are.”

“Wade isn’t stupid. He went to Colorado one summer just to be in the United States. Shouldn’t that say something?”

“What’s wrong with Colorado?”

“Nothing. But don’t you think as someone vacationing in the United States they’d go somewhere like New York or Florida?”

Kelly looks over at Drew. She chews on her bottom lip as she nods slightly. Drew glances back when they hear a deep voice welcome them into class.

“Come with us tonight,” Drew says looking at Kelly once again. “Both of you.”

“To where?”

“Just…have a little trust in someone. It’s nothing bad. Please.”

Kelly lets out a soft breath. “On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“I know it may sound dumb, but I want him to apologize.”

“Done.” Drew grins. “We’ll talk after class.”

“All right, I’m Donald Kennedy. Welcome to Scottish History. Some of you I know. Others, I don’t. So let’s start by going around and introducing yourselves. Your name, what your major is, minor if you have one. Miss, we’ll start with you.”

Kelly looks up at Professor Kennedy. “I’m Kelly Blank. I’m majoring in Psychology with a minor in History.”

“You must be one of our study abroad students. Where are you from?”

“Orlando.”

“Florida. Very nice. Drew, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing about you.”

Drew laughs softly. “Drew McIntyre. I have a major in History with a minor in Architecture.”

Kelly watches as Professor Kennedy rolls his eyes when Drew introduces himself. She can’t help but wonder what that was about.

“Nice, Mr. McIntyre.”

Drew looks at Kelly as the person beside him starts talking. Kelly gives him a small smile, not that it had been intentional. If it was up to her, she definitely wouldn’t have. Unfortunately she couldn’t stop herself.

Kelly is a little taken aback when Professor Kennedy announces that each of the study abroad students will be paired with someone else for the semester. When she’s paired with Drew, she can’t help but feel overwhelmed. It’s not as if she should have expected anything differently.

As soon as the class ends, Kelly looks at Drew. She lets out a soft breath as she puts her books back into her bag and stands up. Drew follows her out of the classroom and into the hall.

“What time is your last class?” Drew asks.

“It ends at three,” Kelly answers. “That’s Nattie’s last class too.”

“Great. Meet us by the main building at six. And dress warm.”

“Warm? Drew…”

“Just dress warm.”

“Okay.”

“I have to get to my next class.”

“Should we bring anything?”

“Just yourselves in warm clothes.”

“Okay.”

“Bye Kelly.”

Kelly waves. As she walks away, she can’t help but smile a little. She knows she probably shouldn’t have agreed to this, at least without talking to Nattie first. Although she’s pretty sure Nattie won’t mind going.

Turning the corner, Kelly makes her way to her next class. Three classes Mondays and Wednesdays with two on Tuesdays and Thursdays; she’d been lucky enough to get Fridays off. Not that she’s going to be doing much on Fridays.

Kelly walks into the classroom, thankful to see Nattie already there. Walking up to the front, Kelly takes a seat.

“We’re going out tonight,” Kelly says.

“We are?” Nattie asks.

“Drew invited us out. I don’t know where we’re going. He just said to dress warm.”

Nattie raises an eyebrow. “You agreed to go out?”

“I told him I would if Wade apologized.”

“Did you want to go out?”

“Yes. I hope you don’t mind that I basically said yes for you too.”

“Not at all. I get to see Wade again. There’s something about him that makes me want to get to know him better.” Nattie smiles at Kelly.

“There’s something about Drew.”

“I know.”

******

Drew lets out a soft breath as he looks around once again. He’s not surprised when his group looks at him once again. “Just…they’ll be here,” he says. “Wade…”

“I know,” Wade interrupts.

“And mean it.” Drew hears a couple of voices and looks up, thankful when he sees Kelly and Nattie.

“Hi,” Kelly says. “Sorry we’re late.”

“It’s okay,” Drew says. “Just glad you came. Was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up.”

Kelly looks up at Drew and smiles shyly. “I’ve been here for a week and a half and I had lost one of my sweatshirts. But it’s all good, I found it.”

“Good.”

“Kelly,” Wade says walking over. “I just wanted to apologize for what I said. I really didn’t mean anything by it. I just…I do have a soft spot for Americans but it has nothing to do with what I said. I was joking around. I have to remember not everyone knows my humor.”

Kelly nods. “I’m sorry too. I over reacted I suppose.”

“All right,” Layla says. “Can we go now?”

“Impatient,” Drew mutters. He smiles over at her. “All right, Wade, do you have your bag?”

“Like I would forget the best part of this trip,” Wade mutters.

“Justin?”

“You know, you’d think you were our father or something,” Sheamus drawls. “Now let’s go.”

Drew gestures for the group to go. He notices that Nattie starts walking with Wade and smiles a little as he falls into stride with Kelly. “You didn’t need to apologize,” he says softly.

Kelly shrugs. “I did though,” she replies. “So where are we going?”

“Just trust me. And thank me now because you look warm.”

Kelly glances up at Drew, smiling slightly. “You told me to dress warm, so I did.”

Drew laughs softly. He’s glad that Kelly decided to come. Maybe this is the time they need. Maybe Drew can show Kelly the real him before she finds out about who he is.

“Why do we always choose the coldest nights?” Layla asks.

“Tradition,” Drew and Wade say together. “Hey!” They laugh and point at each other.

“Why do I deal with you two?”

“Because without us you would be bored,” Wade answers. “Lord knows Justin could never entertain you like we do.”

“Watch it,” Justin says.

“So how long have you known each other?” Nattie asks.

“Too long,” Sheamus answers.

“Layla and I have known each other for twenty years,” Drew says. “Wade came along seventeen years ago. I’ve known Sheamus forever. But he didn’t become a part of the group until ten years ago. And Justin came along five years ago.”

“Thanks for leaving me out,” Maryse says.

Drew rolls his eyes. “No such luck. Ryse has been around for fifteen years…or something like that.”

“And he’s enjoyed every minute of it. Don’t let him fool you.”

Kelly watches as Drew just shakes his head. “Something tells me you aren’t thrilled with her,” she says softly.

“We’ve just been through a lot together. Nothing…let me rephrase that. She’s pretty much a part of my family.” Drew shrugs. “We just don’t always see eye to eye.”

“So basically she’s kinda like a sister to you?”

“I guess in a weird way. Where are you guys going? It’s this way.” Drew stops walking, Kelly following suit. He laughs when the others retreat and turn in the right direction. “We’ve only been going here for how long? How do you still forget where to turn?”

“We like to hear you complain,” Justin says.

“I can believe that.” Drew winks at Kelly as they start walking once again. “You don’t need to be nervous. I know you still don’t know us, but we wouldn’t put you in any kind of danger.”

“I just don’t know where we’re going. I think I’m always nervous when I don’t know.”

Drew nods. When he looks ahead of him once again, he’s not really surprised to find Nattie and Wade walking close together and talking amongst themselves. He can’t help but smile slightly. He’s hoping Kelly will open up to him the way Nattie seems to be opening up to Wade. Walking beside him is definitely a start, one Drew will definitely take.

When they reach the spot, they all stop. Drew watches as Kelly looks around before turning her gaze onto him.

“What is this?” she asks.

“Firth of Clyde,” Drew answers. “We come up here a lot.”

“It’s beautiful.” Kelly walks toward the edge of the hill.

Drew watches her for a moment before stepping up next to her. “She’s a beauty.”

Kelly looks at him. “So you have a soft spot.”

Drew laughs softly. “I wouldn’t exactly call it a soft spot. We just like to get away from everything. This is just a place I’ve been coming to for years.”

“What do you do?”

“Sit around, talk. There’s never anything set other then who’s bringing what.”

“By that you mean?”

Layla walks over before Drew can answer. “Last blanket,” she says smiling. “Kelly, he’s a blanket hog so you can share with him this time because I want my blanket.”

“You just want to share with Justin,” Drew calls after her. He looks at Kelly once again. “Like who brings the blankets or who brings snacks, things like that.”

Kelly smiles and looks back out at the water. Drew can’t help but watch her. He loves how she’s enthralled with all of this. It’s something he really hadn’t expected.

“Are you cold?” Drew asks. “Do you want the blanket?”

“I’m okay right now.”

“Well, just let me know if you change your mind.”

“Hey, stop making your own little group and get over here,” Wade says.

Drew lets out a soft breath. “We better go before they drag us over.”

Kelly grins and walks with Drew to the group. They both sit down. Drew unfolds the blanket and spreads it over their legs. Kelly smiles at him. She’s glad she gave Drew another chance. There’s no way she would have forgiven herself. Not that she would have known she would have enjoyed this.

“Drew,” Maryse says.

Drew looks over at her. “What?”

“How’s the family?”

Drew lets out a heavy breath. He should have known Maryse would bring them up. It’s just like her to do so. “I…” Drew shrugs. It’s all he really can do. “Good, I guess.”

“You guess? Come on…”

“You’ve seen them more than I have. Just drop it. I don’t want to talk about my family.”

Kelly looks at Drew, wondering why he doesn’t want to talk about his family. Maybe he doesn’t get along with them. It’s always possible. Just because she’s close with her family, doesn’t mean others are. She can see in Drew’s eyes though that it bothers him to even hear his family mentioned. She’ll have to remember that. Maybe she’ll be able to get something out of him, but for now, she’s going to let him have this for now.

They spend some time just talking about pretty much everything. Nattie and Kelly are both asked about their lives back home. Not that Kelly has much to tell. She has her few friends back home, but isn’t considered one of the popular girls, which leaves everyone stunned. She was always more worried about her studies than anything else. Nattie, on the other hand, was one of the popular girls as well as being on top of her class. Kelly admits that she’s shy, even though she really didn’t need to because they all figured it out.

It’s not long before Layla and Justin disappear to be alone. Kelly could tell they wanted to be alone since they’d arrived. Sheamus and Maryse continue to argue with each other. Kelly’s surprised they hadn’t the entire time. They both seem to annoy each other. They finally decide they’ve had enough and leave.

Drew shakes his head as they walk away. “Lasted longer than last time,” he mentions.

Wade laughs and nods in agreement. “I swear they just need to fuck and get it over with,” he says.

Drew nods before stretching. He glances over at Kelly when she curls down under the blanket slightly. He nudges her slightly before looking over at Wade. “I think it’s time we head back. Kelly’s shivering over here.”

“I’m fine,” Kelly intervenes.

Drew grins and stands up. He stretches his arms over his head before looking at Kelly. “You’re shivering, not exactly what I call fine. It’s probably time to head back anyways.”

Kelly and Nattie both keep the blankets wrapped around them as they make their way back toward campus. Kelly keeps close to Drew even though she knows she should put a little space between them.

“All right,” Drew says. “Lead us to where you live.”

“You don’t have to walk us back there,” Kelly says.

“I’m not letting you walk there by yourselves.”

Kelly smiles a little. She has to admit she likes the fact that Drew wants to walk her home. The walk is in a nice silence, much to Kelly’s surprise. She’d thought it would be awkward, but it definitely isn’t. As they walk up the sidewalk to their door, Kelly looks over at Drew.

“Thank you,” she says. “It was fun.”

Drew nods. “I’m glad you had fun,” he replies. All four stop at the door.

Kelly slides the blanket off her shoulders and hands it to Drew. “Don’t freeze on your way back.”

Drew laughs softly. “Not likely, but thanks.”

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Drew nods. “Have a good night. Bye Kelly.”

Kelly steps back. The way he says her name still makes her stomach flutter. “Bye Drew.”

******

Drew slams the newspaper down after reading yet another article about himself. He’s tired of seeing them but how is he supposed to stop them? Leave the country, it’s the only way. Drew lets out a soft breath as he stands up. He has to stop reading the papers, he truly does. Lately it’s been the same thing over and over again, just worded in different ways.

 _At the age of twenty-two, when will the Much Honoured Andrew Galloway, Laird of Ayrshire marry?_

Twenty-two must still be considered old even though it’s 2011. Drew plops down on the couch and runs a hand over his face. He needs to get out of this life. He doesn’t completely hate his life. But growing up in the house of the Ayrshire Baron wasn’t always fun. In fact, it rarely was. Drew was ignored most of the time.

“Looks like someone read the newspaper,” Wade says walking in.

Drew sighs and drops his hands. “I need to stop reading them,” he mutters. “They’re always the same.”

“I’ve been telling you that for years.” Wade sits down on the other end of the couch. “Enough of the Laird of Ayrshire…”

“Don’t call me that.”

Wade laughs softly. “Never gonna happen. Anyways. Have you heard from Kelly?”

“How would I hear from Kelly? She doesn’t have a way to get a hold of me.” Drew looks at Wade. “I see her in classes. Seems like the only way she wants to be involved with me. The fact that she came out with us the other night was amazing in itself. And I’m pretty sure the only reason she did was because you were going to apologize to her.”

“That’s not the only reason. A little birdie told me that Kelly just doesn’t know how to react to you.”

“Does the little birdie happen to be named Nattie?”

Wade grins. “She’s such a pretty birdie, isn’t she?”

Drew rolls his eyes and stands up. He walks over, grabbing his coat. “I’m going for a walk. See you later.”

Drew’s walk led him right to Kelly’s door. Not that he should really be surprised. It hadn’t been his plan to be here. But he somehow managed to work his way here. Reaching up, he knocks on the door. He takes a step back as he waits for someone to answer.

“Hi there,” someone says.

Drew looks up and sees a dark haired girl standing there…Eve, they have a class together. “Hi. Is Kelly around?”

“Who?”

Drew raises an eyebrow. “Kelly.”

“Back off,” Nattie says stepping in front of Eve. “Come in Drew.”

Drew steps in, closing the door behind him. Eve rolls her eyes before walking away. Drew looks at Nattie and gestures toward Eve.

“She’s a bitch who’s mad that you aren’t here to see her,” Nattie says. “Now, before I say anything about Kelly, why are you here?”

“I…don’t know. Went for a walk and ended up here. Not that I should be surprised because I haven’t been able to get Kelly off my mind. I just…”

“Then go see her.” Nattie points down the hall. “Closed door on the left. Just walk in because she’ll be expecting me.”

Drew sucks in a deep breath as he reaches for the handle. He’s never been so nervous in his life and he’s definitely been in more nerve wracking situations than this. Shaking his head, Drew opens the door and steps inside slightly. He sees Kelly sitting on the bed by the windows with the history book resting on her legs.

Kelly looks up, surprised to see Drew standing there. “Hi,” she says.

“Hey,” Drew says. He steps further into the room. “I was out for a walk and I ended up here. Not that I should really be surprised.”

“Why shouldn’t you be surprised?” Kelly chews on her bottom lip as she watches Drew.

“Because I can’t stop thinking about you.” Drew steps closer to Kelly’s bed. “I know…”

“Don’t think about me.”

“A little late for that, Kelly.” Drew grins. “What’s so wrong about being friends with me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with being friends with you but then everything is wrong with it. Drew…”

Drew sits down on what he guesses is Nattie’s bed and sighs. “You still think I’m a jerk. What do I have to do Kelly?” Drew watches Kelly for a moment, not surprised to find her staring at him. “Right.” Drew stands up again. “I’m sorry I bothered you. I’ll see you in class.”

Drew walks out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him and heads toward the door. He’s not surprised when Nattie stops him.

“Drew,” Nattie says. “She’s…”

“Never going to look at me as someone who could be a friend. Face it, she’s…”

“Scared. Just give her time.”

“Yeah.” Drew lets out a heavy breath. “I’ll see you later Nattie.”

“Bye Drew.”

Drew walks outside and makes his way down the sidewalk. He should have known this whole thing was too good to be true. Kelly will never think anything of him. So why does he want to continue to try?

******

Kelly sits down in her seat and looks at Drew who is tapping his pencil on the desk. “I’ve never seen you here before me,” she says.

Drew looks over and shrugs. “Got here early, so I figured I’d just come in.”

Kelly nods. “Listen, Drew…”

“You don’t have to explain. I get it.”

“No, I don’t think you do.”

“What don’t I get Kelly? You don’t want anything to do with me.”

“That’s not true. You just…confuse me.”

“How do I confuse you?”

“Because I don’t know how to read you. I don’t know what you’re thinking. That scares me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want anything to do with you. I just…I’m confused.” Kelly chews on her bottom lip as she watches Drew turn in his seat. “I know it sounds crazy.”

“No, I understand. But just give me a chance.”

Kelly grins. “Just don’t push me.”

“Deal.” Drew holds his hand out and smiles at Kelly.

Kelly laughs softly and shakes Drew’s outstretched hand. “Thank you for the other night. It was fun. And it was really nice to do something. Nattie and I know nothing about anything around here. Sure we can look around, but it’s nice to have someone around that knows where they’re at.” Kelly covers her mouth. “That came out wrong.”

Drew grins. “I knew what you meant.”

Kelly pulls her book out of her bag as well as her notebook. “Do you think we could get together to study before the test on Wednesday?”

“Sure. I can’t tonight, but how about tomorrow?”

Kelly smiles at Drew. “That works.”

“Do you want to meet at the library or your place or my place? I don’t really care.”

“I’d rather not the library. For this it’s too quiet there. You can come over to my place. Eve and Melina aren’t going to be there so it’ll actually be nice there.”

“Yeah, Eve’s a bitch. I don’t know Melina though.”

“A lot like Eve.”

Drew grins. "How about we go to dinner and then we’ll head back and work on that? A group, not just us.”

Kelly shrugs. “I don’t see why that would be a problem. As long as it’s okay if Nattie comes with.”

“Of course. Wade would probably push me off the edge of the Clyde if I didn’t invite Nattie.” Drew winks at Kelly.

Professor Kennedy walks in then muttering a quick hello. “I don’t want to hear any complaints. Because guess what? Pop quiz!” He holds up a hand when the class groans. “Don’t start. Here’s what I want you to do. Get with your partners and we’ll get started.”

They spend the entire class answering questions. Kelly is surprised at how well she and Drew work together and in the end they have the most questions correct. As they walk out of the classroom, Drew smiles at Kelly.

“Good work partner,” he says.

Kelly laughs softly. “Right back at you,” she replies.

“Where are you off too?”

“Life Psychology. You?”

“Architecture IV.”

“Building freak.”

Drew chuckles. “It’s more than just the building. It’s the designing part too.”

“Do you draw?”

Drew nods as they turn the corner. “I draw and build some models. Maybe I’ll show you something some time.”

Kelly glances at Drew. “Really? I’d love to see something. I’m this way.”

Drew nods as they stop. “I’m straight ahead. So I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

******

Kelly and Drew sit on her bed as they go over their notes once again. Letting out a heavy breath, Kelly sets her notebook to the side. She lets her head fall back against the wall and closes her eyes. Drew looks over, smiling at the sight.

“I think we should take a break,” he offers.

Kelly opens her eyes and looks over at Drew. “Do you want something to drink?” she asks.

“Sure.”

Kelly slides off the bed and walks over to the mini fridge she and Nattie have in their room. After pulling two bottles of water out, she walks back over to the bed. Drew takes a bottle and smiles at Kelly.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Kelly watches as Drew takes a long drink. “So what’s your plan after you graduate?”

Drew shrugs. “I want to travel. I would love to go to the U.S. and spend some time there. I don’t even care where. I just think it would be amazing. Do you graduate after this semester?”

Kelly nods. “As long as I pass all of my classes I will.”

“Are you going back home right after the semester ends?”

Kelly shrugs and takes a sip of her water. “I don’t know yet. But it’s still early. Let me continue with the now. Ask me later.”

Drew laughs softly. “I’m holding you to that.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything different. So how do you know Maryse?” Kelly knows she probably shouldn’t be asking. But it’s been something that’s been on her mind. The way they argue is almost like they’ve been together at one point…or like they’re siblings.

Drew sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “Maryse’s dad works for my dad.” Drew shrugs. It’s not a lie, but it’s certainly not the entire truth. “Started when we were ten so we’ve been around each other a lot. There were many days where she was more like a sister to me than just the daughter of my dad’s partner.” Okay, there’s the lie. “That’s also where all the problems started too. My parents paid more attention to her than they did me. Still do really. When I left to come back here, I barely got a goodbye out of them.”

Kelly watches Drew’s eyes, seeing the heartache he has because of all of this. “That’s why you want to get away, isn’t it?”

Drew shrugs. “Part.” He lets out a soft breath. “I’ve wanted to travel for a long time. All of this is just a bonus to get away from. What about you? Have any issues like that with your parents?”

Kelly shakes her head as she thinks about Barbara and Patrick. “No. We’re all close. We have our moments. But…” Kelly looks at Drew. “But sometimes I feel suffocated by them. Mom is always worried about every little thing. I’m lucky she actually agreed to let me come here.”

“I’m glad she did.”

Kelly grins. “Me too.” Kelly should be surprised at her admission, but she can’t be because it’s the truth. If she could find it in her to lie to Drew, she probably would have.

Drew smiles as he stretches his arms over his head. Kelly takes a glance down at his waist when she sees Drew’s shirt drift up a little. She sucks in a deep breath at how toned his stomach looks with the little she can see. She looks away quickly before Drew has a chance to catch her staring.

“How about we take a break?” Drew asks. “We’ve been at it for two hours.” He leans back, pulling his legs out from underneath him to stretch them out.

Kelly watches his every move. If her few friends from back home could see her now they’d be amazed. They would have never guessed she would be in the same room alone with someone like Drew.

“A break sounds good,” Kelly finally answers. She takes a seat on the bed and chews on her bottom lip. She doesn’t know what else to do right now. Drew still makes her nervous. But having him here has helped with knowing what to expect on the test. He’s calmed her down.

“Where’s Nattie?”

“With Wade probably. She just said she was going to head out for a while.” Kelly looks over at Drew. “Wade didn’t say anything?”

“I haven’t seen him since we both left this morning for class.”

Kelly nods. “Would he tell you anything like that? I mean, I know boys are weird with that kind of thing. So, would he say anything?”

Drew laughs softly and nods. “Aye. Wade and I don’t keep things from each other often. He can tell you pretty much everything about me.”

“So basically if I wanted to know something about you I can get it from him?”

“Not exactly. You’re better off asking Layla for that. Of course, the problem there would be she’d run to me telling me what you’ve wanted to know. So in reality, your best bet is to just ask me.” Drew winks at Kelly.

Kelly grins. “I’ll have to remember that. I suppose it’s only fair since you can’t ask my best friend anything about me. Not that she’d tell you anything.”

“She wouldn’t?”

“Not right away. She’d be leery of telling you anything.”

“Why is that?”

Kelly shrugs. It’s a simple answer, which she knows she has to tell. “It’s not often a boy wants to know anything about me.”

Drew raises an eyebrow. “I don’t believe that.”

Looking over at Drew, Kelly grins. “It’s true.”

Drew sits up still looking at Kelly. “How is that even possible? I’ve known you for two weeks and you’ve intrigued me from the beginning.”

“I’m nothing special. I’m quite boring honestly. I’ve always been more worried about my school work than anything else. In high school the boys always looked at me as the uptight bitch. College was no different when I started. No one could understand why I didn’t want to party every night. But that’s not what I was there for.” Kelly sighs, picking at the bottom of her shirt. “Like I said nothing too special about me. I’d rather stay focused on school and my eventual career than worrying about what people think about me. That’s not to say what people do say doesn’t hurt. But I try to just ignore it.”

Drew nods. He won’t ask what people have said even though he does want to know. How anyone could say anything bad about her, he doesn’t know. But they obviously have and it’s obvious that it does bother her. Drew lets out a soft breath as he looks at Kelly.

“Want to go for a walk?” he asks.

Kelly looks over and smiles a little. “Sure,” she answers. “But when we get back, we study more.”

Drew laughs softly. “Okay.”

They both climb off the bed and grab their coats. Kelly looks over at Drew as she zips her coat and can’t help but smile. How is it possible that she’s this comfortable with him? It doesn’t seem normal for her. It isn’t normal for her. But she can’t deny how comfortable she is.

Drew looks over at Kelly as they turn the corner. “So why Scotland?” he asks.

Kelly shrugs. “With what I’m going into there was a limited choice. In the end, I have some Scottish in me, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get over here.”

“Scottish, huh? How much?”

“A quarter. My mom is half Scottish and half Russian.”

“Wow. What about your dad?”

“Half German and half Danish.”

“Nice.” Drew smiles at Kelly. He’s glad that she’s becoming comfortable with him. He honestly hadn’t expected her to be like this so quickly. But he’s glad.

“So I take it you like being out in the cold weather like this?”

Drew shrugs. “I just like being outside. You’ll find me outside a lot. How about you?”

“Being from Florida, it doesn’t get too cold during the winter, but honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the hot summers.”

Drew grins. “Well, then it’s probably not a good thing living in Florida.”

Kelly shrugs. “Yeah, I suppose so.” Kelly smiles at him.

******

Kelly takes a seat at her desk as she awaits class to start. Drew takes his seat beside her and smiles.

“No being worried about the test,” Drew says. “We went over it twenty times. You’re going to do great.”

Kelly grins. “It wasn’t twenty,” she replies. “But thank you for studying with me.”

Drew nods. “No problem. Glad I could calm you down a little about this. At least, it appears you have.”

“I have.” Kelly smiles as she pulls her things out of her bag to take one last look at her notes. “Will we leave right after the test? Or will he have lecture?”

“Just the test, so you can leave. Unless he says otherwise. But usually we can just leave. In which case, if you get done before me, wait for me.”

Kelly grins. “I will.”

The test, to Kelly’s surprise, goes smoothly. After she finishes, she makes her way out of the room and takes a seat on the bench across the hall to wait for Drew. She feels like she did really well and knows the studying last night helped a lot. Drew helping her had calmed her down and she hadn’t been as stressed while taking it like she had thought she would be, like she normally is. Letting out a soft breath, Kelly can’t help but smile a little. Her first test is done and over with.

When someone sits down beside her, Kelly looks over. She’s surprised to see that it isn’t Drew that’s sitting down beside her. Instead, it’s someone she doesn’t know. She takes a deep breath as she raises an eyebrow.

“You’re new around here,” the boy says.

“Yes, I am,” Kelly says. She doesn’t know why, but the boy makes her uncomfortable. She glances at the door of the classroom, hoping Drew would come out. To her dismay, the door remains closed.

“I’m Ewan Gregory.”

“Kelly Blank.” Kelly reluctantly shakes Ewan’s hand. After a moment, she has to physically pull her hand out of his grasp.

“Kelly,” Drew says walking over.

Kelly stands up quickly seeing him. “Hey,” she says.

Drew looks at Ewan and raises an eyebrow. “Gregory.”

“Ga…”

“Don’t you have someone else to bother?” Drew interrupts quickly. “Come on Kelly.”

Kelly follows Drew down the hall. “What was that about?” she asks.

Drew sighs. “There’s a big family feud that started before we were even born. I don’t know. He and I just seem to have continued that feud.”

“What did he almost call you?”

“I don’t know.” Drew hates that he just lied to Kelly once again. “I usually don’t pay attention to anything he says. Look, I won’t stop you from being friends with him if you want. Just know I can’t be around if he is.”

“No, I really didn’t want to talk to him at all. He sat down and wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Well, then I’m sorry I didn’t get out sooner. Now, how’d you do?”

“I think I did really well. I couldn’t remember a couple of them, but I still think I did well.”

Drew nods. “See? I told you.”

“How’d you do?”

“Good.”

“You do realize we’re going to have to study together from now on, right?”

Drew laughs softly. “I kind of figured. Not that I’m going to complain at all. After all it means spending time with you.”

Kelly can’t help but smile. She doesn’t know how to even respond to the statement. But she does know she is happy by his comment. How couldn’t she be? The boy wanted to be around her, how couldn’t she be happy about it?


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

Kelly walks out of the house and slides her sunglasses on. She can’t believe the drastic change in weather over night. Not as drastic as she’s seen back home, but still more than what she had expected. She walks down the sidewalk and turns to head toward campus. Her phone buzzes in her pocket, which surprises her. She doesn’t know who would be texting her now.

 _I see you._

Kelly smiles at Drew’s text message and looks around. When she glances behind her, she finally sees Drew following her. She stops and turns around to wait for him. “You’re stalking me,” she says.

“Right. I came all the way down here to stalk you as I’m telling you I see you.”

“I didn’t say you were being a smart stalker.”

Drew laughs softly as they begin walking. “So the other two housemates are great.”

“What’d they do now?” Kelly rolls her eyes. She knows they’ve been bothering Drew despite him telling them to back off.

“Eve just tried jumping me.”

Kelly wrinkles her nose, a ping of jealousy flowing through her. She’s not even sure why because it’s obvious Drew turned her away. “Yeah, they both want to see how many guys they can sleep with it seems.”

“Well, I won’t be one of them.” Drew nudges Kelly lightly. “Something on your mind Sunshine?”

Kelly smiles at Drew a little. “Sunshine, that’s a new one. And…” Kelly shrugs. Truth is over the last two months, Kelly has fallen for Drew. She hadn’t meant for it to happen and she hates herself for letting it happen. But he’s been one of the constant people in her life here and she wouldn’t change anything. Even knowing this, she still knows Drew is hiding something. She still wonders what he could possibly be hiding.

“Kelly?”

“I’m fine. I didn’t sleep well last night.” Not a complete lie, but Kelly can’t admit to Drew what’s really bothering her.

“Okay.” Drew looks up at the sky. “Rain’s coming.”

“The sun is out.”

Drew laughs softly as he looks at Kelly again. “You don’t know the weather here. I bet you that by the end of our first class it’ll be raining.”

“Okay. What’s the bet for?”

“Dinner. If it’s not raining I’ll buy you dinner. If it is, you buy me dinner.”

Kelly grins. “Okay. You’re on.”

“You’re going down Sunshine.”

“We’ll see.” Kelly shakes her head as they turn to head to the building. “I think you’re nuts.”

Drew laughs softly. “Keep thinking that.” He opens the door and follows Kelly inside. “So, are you coming over tonight to study?”

“Yes, if that’s still okay. I’d invite you over to our place. But Eve and Melina are going to be there with some of their friends and it’ll just be annoying.”

Drew laughs softly. “I got stuck working with Eve last week in our class together. She doesn’t like you. But she seems to have forgotten that I am friends with you.”

“What’d you tell her?”

“That she better watch what she says about you because everything she has to say will never mean anything to me because I know you. Now, I realize I still don’t know everything, but she doesn’t need to know that.”

“She doesn’t know me at all to try to say anything about me.”

“I know that.” Drew nudges her gently. “Don’t worry. I don’t listen to what she says.”

“Good.”

After their class ends, Drew practically drags Kelly out to the front of the building. Kelly starts to complain but stops when she sees the rain coming down. Rain? How can it be raining?

“You owe me dinner,” Drew says.

Kelly groans. “It was pure sunshine earlier,” she mutters.

“Welcome to Scotland.” Drew winks at Kelly as he smiles. “Come on.”

******

Drew rubs a hand over his face as he walks to the door. He pulls it open to see Kelly standing there. “Hey,” he says as he covers his mouth to yawn. “Come in.”

“Did I wake you?” Kelly asks as she steps inside.

Drew nods but shrugs. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Just tired. Only myself to blame. Do you want anything before we get started?”

“No. I’m okay right now. Did you not want to study tonight? I’ll be okay without having our study session.”

“No, it’s okay. Have a seat. I’m going to grab something to drink.”

Kelly takes a seat on the couch and pulls her books out of her bag as she waits for Drew. When the suite phone rings, it startles Kelly and she jumps, shrieking slightly. Drew laughs softly as he walks in.

“You okay?” he asks.

Kelly nods. “Just wasn’t expecting that,” she says.

Drew grins as he picks up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello Andrew,” Grace says.

Drew flinches slightly. He hates being called Andrew. “Hi, mum,” he says.

“I wanted to talk to you about that ball.”

Drew rubs the back of his neck. “What about it? I told you I’d be there.”

“I know you did sweetie.”

 _But…_ Drew knows it’s coming. It always does when it comes to his mother.

“But you know you should really have a date.”

Drew sighs. “Mum, that’s pointless and you know it. You and Da have it set to find someone for me.” Drew glances back at Kelly to find her reading through her notes, thankful she’s not paying attention to him. “Listen, I have to go.”

“Andrew…”

“I’m studying, Mum.”

“All right. I expect to see you home Friday.”

Drew sighs. “Mum, come on.”

“Andrew…”

“All right, fine.”

“Don’t sass me young man. We’ll see you Friday.”

Drew says his goodbye and sets the phone down. “Sorry,” he says as he turns back around.

Kelly looks up and smiles. “That’s okay,” she replies. “Is everything okay?”

Drew nods. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” Drew takes a seat on the couch and looks at Kelly. “So, where do you want to start?”

Kelly stretches after a while. They’d been at it for a little over an hour and they hadn’t said anything for a few minutes. Kelly looks over ready to say something, but stops when she sees that Drew is asleep. She can’t help but laugh a little. Grabbing her phone, she quickly snaps a picture and sends it to Nattie with a text.

 _He fell asleep on me…I should pour cold water on him._

Kelly leans against the arm of the couch as she watches Drew. She doesn’t know what she should do right now, but does have to admit she kind of wants to continue sitting here and watching him. When her phone beeps, she opens it to read the new text message.

 _How is that comfy?_

Kelly grins as she looks at Drew once again. Nattie is right. It definitely doesn’t look like it would be a comfortable position. But with as tired as Drew seemed, Kelly imagines he probably could have fallen asleep standing up.

 _No idea._

Kelly watches Drew for another moment before grabbing his notes. No use in wasting time. She isn’t going to let the fact that Drew fell asleep stop her from studying. However, she finds herself having a difficult time concentrating on the notes. Instead, she keeps looking over at Drew. She’s noticing things she never noticed about him before. He looks so peaceful. Kelly lets her gaze follow Drew’s face down his long arms. His slender fingers are longer than she had realized. She can’t help but notice the way a few fingers are carefully resting on the exposed skin of his stomach, dipping just below the waistband of his jeans.

The beeping of her phone interrupts her thoughts of how perfect Drew looks right now.

 _Wade and I are coming over._

 _Why?_

 _I couldn’t get him to stop…sorry._

Kelly looks over when the door opens. Wade and Nattie walk in and Nattie immediately apologizes for them being here. Kelly shrugs.

“No big deal,” she says.

“How long has he been out?” Wade asks.

“Not too long, I don’t think. Wade…” Kelly doesn’t have a chance to finish as Wade is smacking Drew’s stomach.

Drew shouts and sits up quickly, slipping from the couch and landing on the floor. “Bloody hell Wade,” he mumbles. He wipes his eyes before looking over at Kelly. “I fell asleep.”

“I noticed,” Kelly says.

“I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize. It happens.”

Drew sighs and climbs back up to sit on the couch. “I was more tired than I thought.”

“Obviously,” Wade says as he plops down beside Drew.

Drew runs a hand over his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Saw the picture of you sleeping and had to come bug you.”

Kelly sucks in a deep breath. Drew wasn’t supposed to find out she had taken a picture. This is not what she needs. Drew looks over at her and raises an eyebrow. Kelly simply shrugs, not knowing what else she can do right now.

“How was that position comfy?” Nattie asks.

Drew shrugs. “I guess I’m known to sleep in odd positions.” He stifles a yawn and shakes his head. “I think I should probably call it a night. I’m sorry Kelly.”

“No, it’s okay,” Kelly says. “You should have said something. I would have been okay.” Kelly puts her books back in her bag. “We’ll get going and you can go to bed.”

“Thank you.”

Both boys stand up and follow Kelly and Nattie to the door. Kelly smiles at Drew as he reaches past her to open the door.

“I’m sorry I fell asleep,” Drew says.

“It’s okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Drew nods. “Wade will walk you home.”

“It’s…”

“Of course I will,” Wade says walking over. “Ladies.”

Nattie slides her arm through Wade’s as they walk out. Kelly grins and shakes her head. She gives Drew a small wave before following Nattie and Wade. When they get outside, Wade looks at her and smiles. Kelly doesn’t have to ask to know what he’s thinking. She can’t help but roll her eyes as she steps forward and slides her arm through Wade’s.

“Don’t get used to this,” Kelly says.

Wade laughs softly. “I won’t,” he replies. “Not from you anyways.”

Kelly smiles up at Wade. She has to admit he’s surprised her. When she had first met him she would have never thought he would be as sweet as he is. Kelly listens as Wade and Nattie continue to talk as they walk toward their place.

As they walk up to the front door, Kelly smiles at Wade once again as she pulls her arm from his. “Thank you for walking us back,” she says. “I’ll see you soon I’m sure.” Kelly smiles at Nattie before she walks inside.

******

Drew lets out a soft breath as he walks down the hall toward the classroom. After being on the phone with his mother for the last twenty minutes, he’s certainly not looking forward to taking this test. But he can’t skip this. Professor Kennedy would hang him if he did. Not to mention he wants to see Kelly.

As he walks into the room, he’s not surprised to find Kelly already at her seat. Drew walks up and takes a seat in his, smiling when Kelly looks over. Kelly smiles back and shifts to face him.

“You aren’t going to fall asleep in class, are you?” she asks.

Drew snorts. “No promises,” he says with a wink. “Sorry I fell asleep.”

“It’s okay. You were obviously tired. And you look like something’s bothering you today. Is everything okay?”

Drew nods. “Just had to talk to my mum for twenty minutes this morning. Not exactly how I wanted to start my day.”

“I’m sorry. Anything I can do to make it better?”

Drew grins and shrugs. “Not really. Being here with you is already helping.”

Kelly smiles shyly. She hadn’t expected to hear that from him and the flutter that flows through her stomach makes her nervous. “Well I’m glad.” Kelly takes a staggered breath. “I mean…I just…”

“Nothing wrong with being glad about it.” Drew winks at Kelly. “So are we going to hang out tonight?”

“Where are you headed tonight?”

Drew shrugs. “That’s still up for debate. Where would you want to go?”

Kelly tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know. I think it would be nice to walk around. I’ve been here for three months and still haven’t seen a whole lot.”

“Okay. We can do that.” Drew rubs that back of his neck. _I hope._ “We’ll find somewhere that you haven’t been to before.” Drew doesn’t know how he’ll be able to get Kelly around without people recognizing him, but he’ll figure something out. He can’t disappoint Kelly. “I’ll have to think about it and get back to you on where we’re going to go. I’ll talk to Wade and I’m sure he’ll invite Nattie.”

Kelly nods. “I’m sure he will. They seem to be attached at the hip.”

“More so than you and her.” Drew looks over when Professor Kennedy calls out a hello.

After class ends, Kelly and Drew walk out and start down the hall. Kelly looks over at Drew, smiling at him. Drew nudges her a little as they turn the corner. He laughs when Kelly bumps into the wall.

“That was just mean,” Kelly says as she pushes Drew as best she can. It’s not an easy task considering he’s a good foot taller than she is.

Drew chuckles. “But it’s fun,” he replies. “I’ll get a hold of you later on. We’ll do dinner too.”

“Sounds good. Stop being mean to me.” Kelly waves as Drew heads into his classroom.

Drew takes a seat in his usual place and lets out a soft breath. This is never going to work. He can’t tell Kelly how he feels because the second she finds out who she is she’s going to run. He doubts it’ll be because of who he truly is. Instead, it’ll be because he hid it from her. Why couldn’t he have told her from the beginning? That would have made everything so much easier. Of course, that wouldn’t be him. Drew doesn’t know how to keep things like this simple.

******

Kelly grabs her phone from the table after it beeps. She knows it’s Drew. He’d be the only one who’d text her right now. She pulls the new message up, smiling.

 _Pick you up at six?_

Kelly grins as she sends back a quick response. _Sounds good._

“Is that Drew?” Nattie asks looking over.

Kelly nods. “Yeah,” she answers. “Are you and Wade going too?”

“Yeah. We have to keep an eye on you two.”

Kelly laughs softly. “Right, because it’s Drew and I that need to be worried about.”

“Exactly!” Nattie smiles widely at Kelly before going back to her homework. “I think this will do us both good. We’ve been studying way too much.” Nattie shrugs. “Which I suppose is a good thing, but you know what I mean.”

Kelly nods, even though she knows Nattie can’t see her. “So what happens when we go back?”

“You and I don’t live far from each other. I’d like to think we would stay in touch. Or do you want to get rid of me?”

“No. You’ve become a great friend. But…”

“Wade, Drew, Layla, Sheamus…”

“Yeah.” Kelly sighs. “Not that it matters. I’m sure after we leave they’ll move on to the next group.” Kelly doesn’t believe her own statement. She knows the group has become close. There’s no denying that. She could tell by just the way she and Drew are around each other.

“You don’t honestly believe that do you?”

Kelly shakes her head. “Not even the slightest bit.”

“Good because it’s ridiculous.” Nattie looks at Kelly. “I’m sure we’ll all keep in touch. Maybe they’ll take a vacation in Florida. You know, come to our side of the pond.”

Kelly nods. “That would be nice.” It would be. She’d love to have the group come to Florida. It would be amazing.

“So, where are they taking us?”

“No idea. I just told Drew we want to look around more because we really have seen a whole lot.” Kelly remembers the look on Drew’s face when she had told him that. She still wants to know what that was about. Maybe it was as simple as he was surprised by her request. But what if it’s something more? _You’re being ridiculous, Kelly._ She knows Drew is hiding something. But she doubts it’s anything serious. If it were serious, she’d like to think he’d tell her.

Kelly is pulling her hair into a ponytail when the bell rings. Nattie bounces past her and out of their bedroom. Kelly laughs softly as she follows her, shutting the light off as she goes. She sees Nattie pull the door open and can see Drew and Wade standing there. Nattie turns and smiles widely at Kelly who simply rolls her eyes at her friend.

“Ladies,” Wade says bowing.

Kelly isn’t surprised when Nattie practically falls into his arms. She rolls her eyes once again and smiles at Drew as she steps outside. After closing the door, they head down.

“So where are we going?” Kelly asks.

“Well, first we’re going to go get some dinner,” Drew answers. “Wade wants to go to the diner like always.”

Kelly grins. “That’s fine with me. I’ve come to really like the place anyways.”

“Good thing.”

“Wade seems obsessed with the place.”

“He is. It’s kind of annoying. But it beats some other places, so I probably shouldn’t complain.”

“Probably not.” Kelly looks at Drew as they continue walking toward the diner. She wonders how he feels about Nattie and her leaving in just over two months. She knows they’ve all become close friends. But how will it change when they go home?

“Penny for your thoughts,” Drew says softly as he bumps her gently.

“Is that all my thoughts are worth to you?”

Drew chuckles. “Your thoughts are worth a lot more than that. But it is your bloody saying.”

Kelly grins. “Then leave the bloody saying to me.”

Drew smiles at Kelly and shakes his head. “Making fun of me isn’t nice.”

Kelly shrugs and smiles at him. “I have never claimed to be nice.”

Wade and Nattie both glance back at them with smiles on their faces. Wade simply shakes his head before he turns back around, sliding his arm around Nattie’s shoulders. “They are nuts,” he says.

“Right back at you,” Drew calls ahead.

After they get to the diner, they sit over at the corner table. Kelly’s come to look at it as her table as well. She takes her usual seat beside Drew and opens the menu. Drew rolls his eyes at her and she raises an eyebrow.

“What?” she asks.

“You never get anything different. So why do you insist on looking at the menu?”

“Maybe this time’s gonna be different.”

“Not likely.” Drew winks at Kelly as he leans back in his chair and waits for Scarlet to come over with their drinks.

“You two better not be giving these young ladies any problems,” Scarlet says as she walks over. “If I find out any differently, I will hang the both of you.” Scarlet flashes a smile at Nattie and Kelly after she places the drinks around the table. “All right, so what’ll it be tonight, gang?”

“Same as usual,” Drew answers with a smirk. “Kelly?”

Kelly groans and glares at Drew. “I hate you,” she mutters. “Same.”

Drew laughs softly. “I told you that you wouldn’t get anything different.”

“Shut up.” Kelly smiles even though she really wants to simply smack Drew. She hates that he’s figured that out about her. But it’s too late to do anything about it now. Not that she’d really want to. Deep down, she can’t help but feel happy about Drew knowing the little things like that. “I really do hate you.”

Drew snorts. “Yeah, whatever you say, Sunshine.”

 _Sunshine._ Kelly adores the nickname. If it were anyone else, she’d probably hate it. But there’s something special about the way Drew says it. There’s something special in the way Drew says a lot of things.

“Kelly…”

 _Like that._

“I think she’s drifted into her own little world,” Wade says.

Kelly looks around. “Sorry,” she says. “What’s going on?”

Drew grins. “Are you all right?”

Kelly nods. “Just thinking.” She waves him off. “I’m fine. What’s going on?”

Drew gestures toward Nattie. “Nattie was asking you if you wanted to head to the cliff after we walk around for a while.”

“Oh, yeah. That sounds great.” Kelly smiles shyly. She hadn’t meant to get lost in her own thoughts.

Drew grins and shakes his head. “Just make sure we keep you away from the edge.”

“Stop being mean.” Kelly rolls her eyes when Drew smiles widely at her. However, her frown quickly turns into a smile because she can’t help but smile at this. She’s never felt so comfortable with someone she hadn’t known very long. And here she is with multiple new friends that she fits in well with.

“You’re both mean,” Nattie says. “I hope you know that.” Of course, Nattie can’t keep a straight face as she’s speaking.

Kelly grins and shakes her head. “You know, I should just leave. You’ll all be sorry then.”

Drew rests his arm on the back of Kelly’s chair. “You can try to leave, but I won’t let you.” He shrugs. “Give it your best shot, Sunshine.”

Kelly looks at Drew and can’t help but smile at him. One of these days she’ll be able to stop herself from smiling at him when she truly wants to glare at him. She knows it wouldn’t be a real glare, because in reality she’s really not upset with him.

After they finish dinner, they make their way outside. Drew throws a look at Wade who simply shrugs. He sucks in a deep breath as they make their way toward the center of town. Hopefully not much is going on tonight. He really doesn’t want anything to happen, especially in front of Kelly. It’s bad enough he’s lying to her. He wishes there was a way to get the girls to do something else, but knows it’s unlikely.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Kelly says slipping her arm through Drew’s.

Drew chuckles. “That all my thoughts are worth to you?” he asks.

“Nah, but it’s our dumb saying.” Kelly flashes a goofy grin at Drew who simply laughs.

“Right.”

“You okay?”

Drew nods. “Nothing to worry about.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” Drew can’t help but love that it was Kelly that had linked their arms together. He definitely won’t complain. He’d be an idiot if he did complain about having Kelly on his arm.

“Drew,” Wade says.

Drew looks over to see the look on Wade’s face. He knows exactly what Wade wants him to do. He quickly shakes his head no. It can’t happen. Wade lifts his hand, gesturing to Kelly but Drew quickly dismisses it.

“So, where are we headed?” Nattie asks.

“Figured we could just walk around,” Drew answers. “And if you two see something and you want to stop, just tell us. We’re here so you don’t get lost.”

Kelly grins. “Good thing, because I have no idea where I am.” She looks at up Drew who gives her a small smile.

“Don’t worry, Sunshine. I’m not that mean.”

Drew stands with Wade as the girls take pictures of some of the buildings a short time later. He lets out a soft breath and takes a look around. So far nothing has happened, but anything can at any given moment. All it would take is for one person to recognize him and then all hell would break loose. Drew can’t have that. If it were just him and Wade it would be one thing, but with Kelly and Nattie there, Drew can’t and won’t chance that.

“Drew,” Kelly says pulling him out of his thoughts. “You okay?”

Drew looks at her to see that she’d stepped over to him and Wade has returned to Nattie. He lets out a heavy breath, knowing he’s probably missed a lot by thinking way too much. “Yeah,” he answers. “I’m okay.”

Kelly raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you sure? You seem like something’s on your mind.”

 _Yeah, the fact that I could easily be recognized._ Drew shrugs. “Just got lost in the view. I may live here, but don’t get see this too much.” _Yeah, that’s good. Nice._

“Okay.” Kelly slips her arm through Drew’s once again as they begin walking once again.

Drew is thankful when the girls decide they’ve had enough of looking around. He throws a look at Wade who simply smiles at him. Wade knows what the look is. They’ve known each other long enough to know that.

When they reach their spot at the Firth of Clyde, Drew sucks in a deep breath…fresh air. If he could stay out here all day, her certainly would. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible. He looks beside him at Kelly who is smiling up at him.

“You really love it out here, don’t you?” she asks.

Drew nods. “I really do,” he answers. “Can’t get enough of it honestly.”

“One of these days he’s going to be out here and just die,” Wade says.

Drew laughs softly. “Yeah, whatever.”

“All right, I’m going to take Nattie for a walk.”

“Don’t get lost.” Drew watches as Wade waves and leads Nattie over to the walking path. He can’t help but laugh a little before he looks at Kelly. “So, did you have fun?”

Kelly smiles widely and nods. “It was amazing,” she answers. “Thank you for taking us.”

“No need to thank me. I’m glad you had fun.” Drew watches her for a moment. He wonders if he should just tell her. No, he can’t. As much as he wants to admit who he is, he knows how Kelly will react. She’s going to hate him.

“I’m going to miss this when I leave,” Kelly says suddenly.

Drew looks at her and can’t help but sigh. He hasn’t wanted to think about her leaving. He doesn’t want her to leave. He’d give anything for her to stay here…or he’ll just follow her back to Florida. That would be great if he could do that.

“You know what I’ll miss when you leave?”

Kelly looks at him. “What’s that?”

Drew shrugs as he meets her gaze. “You.”

Kelly stares at him in disbelief. He just…he’s going to miss her? It’s definitely the furthest thing Kelly expected to hear. But she has to admit it makes her feel in some way special.

“Don’t look so surprised, Kelly. The last few months have been amazing. How could I not miss you? You can’t seriously be surprised.”

“I am.” Kelly shrugs. “I’m just not used to this I guess. No one’s ever had…I’ve never…” Kelly sighs, trying to figure out how to say everything that she’s thinking. “I’ve never met anyone like you Drew.”

Drew turns to face Kelly. “Same here, Sunshine. Only you.”

Kelly grins. “Well, I’d hope you’d know yourself already.”

Drew laughs softly. “So what about you? Are you going to miss me?”

Kelly slides her arm around Drew’s waist, happy when he moves his arm around her shoulders. “Of course I will. Honestly, I’m dreading the day I have to leave.”

Drew rests his cheek on the top of Kelly’s head and lets out a soft breath. He’s dreading that day too. He just hopes she’ll feel the same way if and when she finds out who he is. “Me too.” He can’t help but wonder how they would be if he would have told her in the beginning. It would probably be the same with everyone else. They always make a big deal over him. He’s nothing special. Not in that way anyways. He’d love to be something special to Kelly.

“Where was Wade taking Nattie?” Kelly asks.

“Down the path,” Drew answers. “Next time, I’ll take you through. But I think we should probably head back soon. It’s getting late and you have an early class.”

Kelly laughs softly. “Looking after me, huh?”

“Of course I am.” Drew rolls his eyes, but chuckles. He looks back to see Nattie and Wade walking back toward them. “Just in time.”

“I figured it was about time to head back,” Wade says.

Drew nods. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“Great minds think alike.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Nattie says rolling her eyes.

Kelly grins as they start walking back toward their place. She and Drew never drop their arms from around each other. Kelly has to admit she’s never felt this comfortable with anyone before. Her family doesn’t count. Drew is definitely something special. She can’t help but continue to wonder about when she will leave. She knows he’ll miss her and that she’ll miss him. But in reality, what could possibly go on when he’ll be here and she’ll be there? She hates when she thinks like this because she always ends up stressing herself out. And she really can’t afford stressing herself out. Not over this.

“All right, so we’ll meet you for lunch tomorrow?” Wade asks when they reach Nattie and Kelly’s front door.

“I’m in,” Nattie answers with a shrug.

“Sure,” Kelly replies.

“Good. We’ll meet you out from of the main building then.” Wade kisses Nattie’s cheek. “Goodnight ladies.” Wade bows and walks down the sidewalk.

Drew rolls his eyes but laughs softly. “See you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

Kelly waves as Drew walks down the steps. “Bye Drew.”

Drew turns and smiles at her. “Bye Kelly.”

Kelly chews on her bottom lip as she watches Drew walk quickly to catch up to Wade. She can’t help but stand there watching him until he disappears from sight. When she turns, she’s not surprised to find Nattie standing there.

“So have you told him that you like him?” Nattie asks.

Kelly rolls her eyes and walks past Nattie into the house. “It wouldn’t do any good. I’m leaving at the end of May. Besides, I don’t…”

“Don’t lie to me Kelly.”

“Okay, fine. Maybe I do. But like I said. It’s pointless. Not like he could like someone like me anyways.”

“You’re an idiot if you really think that.”

Kelly lets out a softly breath. She wants to believe it. It would make things so much easier. But the way Drew looks at her it has to be something more than…Kelly groans. She can’t begin to think like this. It’s pointless. A month and a half she’s going to be going back home. Why should she do anything when nothing will come of it? Kelly kicks her shoes off and sighs. She can’t let anything happen.

******

Kelly walks inside after getting home from her last class for the week. She lets out a soft breath as she pushes the door closed. As she passes the table, she grabs the two pieces of mail with her name on them. One is from the school, the newsletter she gets regularly from them. The other one she’s not sure what it is. She walks into her room and drops her things on her bed as she takes a seat.

“Did you get something like this in the mail?” Kelly asks showing Nattie the envelope.

“Sure did,” Nattie answers. “Open it.”

Kelly rolls hers eyes. “I forgot, you can’t just tell me what it is.”

“Of course not.” Nattie smiles widely at her. “Did you expect any different?”

“From you? Absolutely not.” Kelly pulls the card…invitation…out of the envelope and stares at the front confused. What could she possibly be invited to? Opening the card, she reads it carefully before looking at Nattie. “Masquerade Ball?”

“Apparently it’s a big deal.”

“So how’d we get invited? We aren’t even from here.”

Nattie shrugs. “I don’t know. But I think it’s kinda cool. I think we should go.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Why not. It could be fun. And it would definitely be something completely different to what we always do.”

Kelly nods. It would be something different. She lets out a soft breath and shrugs. “Maybe. It’s something to think about at least.”

“I’ll take that because it’s not a no.”

Kelly grins. “Progress, right?”

“Absolutely.” Nattie laughs softly. “All right, I’m going out for a little bit. I’ll pick up dinner tonight.”

“Okay, sounds good.” Kelly stares down at the invitation for a few more minutes before setting it on her desk. She has to wonder why she would be invited to this ball. Who would want her there? Right now, she probably shouldn’t worry about it. She really should focus on getting her homework done so she won’t have to worry about it over the weekend.

As she is sitting at her desk finishing up her history paper, her phone buzzes. She reaches over and picks it up from where she had left it. Opening the message, she smiles not at all surprised to see it’s Drew.

 _Are you being boring again tonight?_

Kelly can’t help but laugh a little. _I’m not boring and probably…homework…cause you know, some of us actually do it._ If it were anyone else, she’d probably get upset for being called boring. But she knows that Drew is just kidding around with her.

 _Yeah, sure. I’ll come over with ice cream in a little bit._

Kelly rolls her eyes but is still smiling. _Sure you want to be seen with a boring person?_ She can probably guess what his response will be.

 _Have to make your life less boring._

Kelly laughs softly. It’s exactly as she figured it would be. She doesn’t respond because she knows it’s not necessary. Instead, she sets her phone to the side once again and goes back to working on her paper. Maybe she’ll get lucky and actually finish before Drew gets here.

When there’s a knock on the door, Kelly looks up from her computer. She smiles seeing Drew standing there. Drew raises his hand to show that he had indeed brought ice cream.

“Come on, Sunshine,” Drew says. “You look like you could use a break.”

Kelly rolls her eyes, although she knows Drew is right. She definitely needs a break. Since she had gotten home she’d been working on homework. “All right, let’s…”

“We can stay in here.” Drew shows Kelly the spoons he has before walking past her and sitting down on her bed. He scoots back and leans against the wall. “Are you coming?”

Kelly grins and nods. She walks over, climbing up to sit beside Drew. She smiles as she accepts the spoon he hands her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Drew pulls out two small cartons of ice cream. “Your two favorite if I remember correctly. Moose tracks and cookie dough.”

Kelly smiles widely. She definitely hadn’t expected him to remember that. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Oh good. I didn’t screw you up with the other blonde American I’ve been spending all of my time with.” Drew laughs softly when Kelly elbows him. “Don’t worry, Kelly, you’re the only blonde American I’m spending all of my time with.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“So I’ve been told.” Drew smiles at Kelly as he holds out one of the cartons.

Kelly takes it and smiles. “I’m sure I’ve told you before.”

“Most likely. And I’m sure you’ll tell me again at some point.”

“I guarantee I will.”

Drew chuckles and takes a spoonful of ice cream. He nudges Kelly a little, raising an eyebrow when she looks at him. “What?”

“Nothing, you dork.” Kelly smiles as she shakes her head. She definitely enjoys these moments. How couldn’t she? She’s comfortable with him and has been for quite some time now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

Kelly rolls her eyes as she looks at Nattie. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into buying a dress for the ball,” she says. “I told you I probably wouldn’t be going.”

Nattie smiles over at her. “Probably doesn’t mean no though,” she replies.

Kelly sighs, knowing she should have just told Nattie she wasn’t going. “Right. Maybe I’ll see what Drew’s doing that night.” Kelly hopes he’s not going to this thing either. That way she’d at least have someone to hang out with.

“I’m sure he’ll be going to the ball.”

Figures. Not like Kelly should be surprised. She’s sure everyone from Scotland is invited and they probably all go. So why wouldn’t Drew be going? Maybe if he knows Kelly isn’t going to go, then he’ll back out and hang out with her. It’s worth a shot.

“Maybe not,” Kelly says.

Nattie grins. “You know deep down you want to go.”

 _If I could go with Drew, yeah, I would be going._ Kelly shrugs. “I’m just not the kind of person who gets all fancy and…”

“All the more reason to do it then!”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Nattie smiles at Kelly. “You’ll go.”

“We’ll see.” Kelly hangs the garment bag in the closet before sitting at her desk to check her email. She really doesn’t want to go. She won’t know many people. And the ones she does know she’ll likely not find because of the masks.

“We had a dance like this in high school. It was really fun. I’m sure that wasn’t as fancy as this is going to be.”

Kelly looks at Nattie and can’t help but smile. She loves how excited Nattie is. “Is Wade going?”

Nattie shrugs. “Haven’t asked him yet. I know Layla’s going though. So I’m guessing the entire gang is.”

Kelly nods. She better talk to Drew before it’s too late. Probably already is considering this thing is on Saturday. Kelly chews on her lip as she reaches for her phone. _Hey, you busy?_

Nattie laughs softly. “I’m meeting Wade for dinner. Want to come?”

“No, go ahead. I’ll figure something out.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later.”

 _Just making some dinner. Made way too much since it’s only me. Want to come over?_

Kelly grins. _Sure._ She shouldn’t be this excited to see Drew. But she just can’t help it.

 _Great, get over here._

Kelly rolls her eyes. She grabs her purse and walks out. At least she now has plans for dinner at least. Now she just needs to get the nerve up to talk to Drew about Saturday. After getting to his building, Kelly walks up to Drew’s floor. She knocks on the door and waits for him to answer. The door opens a moment later and Kelly smiles at Drew.

“Hey,” Drew says with a smile. “Come in.”

Kelly steps in, stopping as Drew shuts the door. “So, what smells so good?” she asks.

“Dinner.”

“Thank you. I figured that much.” Kelly rolls her eyes when Drew smiles at her. “I kinda meant what is it?”

“Chicken.”

Kelly raises an eyebrow. “How did you make too much chicken?”

Drew laughs softly. “I didn’t know Wade was going out when I started making dinner.”

“Oh.”

“Come on. It’s ready.”

Kelly follows Drew into the kitchen. She smiles as she sees two plates with food. “You actually cook. Every other time you cooking for me consists of leftovers.”

Drew laughs softly. “I know how to cook. I just don’t do it often. I figured it’s about time I pull this out for you to see.” Drew looks at Kelly. “Impressed?”

“Ask me after I eat a little bit.”

“Ha ha, you’re funny. Take your pick and I’ll get us something to drink.”

Kelly nods. She smiles as she takes one of the plates. “It looks and smells amazing.”

“Good. Then let’s eat.”

They sit and eat in mostly silence. The conversations they do have are simple and quick. Kelly normally doesn’t like the silence during meals. They usually make her feel nervous and awkward. But sitting here with Drew is definitely not either of them. This is the first time that she can remember feeling comfortable with the silence.

After finishing, Kelly sets her fork down and looks at Drew. She smiles when she finds him watching her. “Why are you looking at me?” she asks.

Drew shrugs. “Because I can,” he answers. He smiles at Kelly then. “Well, what did you think?”

“I think you are an amazing cook. You never cease to amaze me Drew McIntyre.”

Drew laughs softly. He just hopes she’ll continue to think that if or when she finds out whom he is. “Right back at you Kelly Blank.”

Kelly laughs softly. “So what are you doing on Saturday?”

Drew’s smile fades as he looks at Kelly. He definitely hadn’t expected her to ask that. How is he supposed to answer it? _The truth, Drew, the truth._ “I’m going to the ball.”

“Really?” Kelly sounds surprised.

Drew nods. “Yeah. I have to. I have no choice in the matter.”

Kelly raises an eyebrow. “No choice? Drew, you’re…”

“Just don’t Kelly. You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand.” Kelly watches Drew closely. She not surprised to see him to start looking so frustrated.

“Kelly, I can’t. Please, just let it go. This…”

“Right, okay.” Kelly slides her chair back and stands up.

“Kelly…”

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow. Bye Drew.”

Drew lets out a heavy breath. “Come on Kelly.”

Kelly doesn’t turn back, closing the door behind her as she leaves. She’s not sure why she’s getting so upset. She had figured he’d be going. But then he said she doesn’t understand. He couldn’t even say anything to make her understand. It was after that she figured it out quickly. Drew has a date for the ball. Not that she should be surprised. Why wouldn’t someone like Drew have a date?

As she walks back to her place, Kelly can’t help but feel like an idiot. She should have never asked Drew. Now he probably thinks she’s being ridiculous…which she probably is. But she’s embarrassed. She put herself out there and she’s rejected. But should she really be surprised that she was? No, not at all because no one could want to be with someone like her.

******

Drew stares at his phone, not surprised he hadn’t gotten a response from Kelly. He’d sent at least five texts at this point and nothing. Kelly’s definitely going to make this difficult. Drew is surprised that she is. Hearing the door close, he looks over. Wade walks in and gives a small wave.

“Hey,” Wade says. “You look like something is bothering you.”

Drew nods and sighs. “Kelly came over for dinner,” he replies.

“And that’s an issue?”

“No. That was great. But then after we finished eating she asked what I was doing on Saturday.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Indeed.” Drew leans back on the couch. “I told her the truth…well, most of it. I told her I was going to the ball and that I had no choice in the matter. Also made the mistake of telling her she doesn’t understand and then I couldn’t make her understand because that would mean admitting that I’m Drew Galloway. Then she left and now she won’t answer my texts. Not that I’m surprised by that.”

Wade takes a seat on the other end of the couch. “So, what are you going to do?”

Drew shrugs and stands up. “I’m going to bed. I’ll try to talk to her before class. Not that I’d be surprised if she ignored me. I swear, she’s as stubborn as I am.”

Wade chuckles. “That’s pretty stubborn then.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you later.” Drew walks into his room and closes the door. After changing quickly, he crawls into bed. He knows he won’t be able to fall asleep for a while. But he couldn’t just sit around moping. And he knows if he would have stayed up that’s exactly what he would have been doing.

Drew must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing he knows, his alarm is going off. Groaning, he reaches over and shuts it off. He turns onto his back and runs a hand over his face. He didn’t get a good night’s sleep, but at least he got something. Pushing himself up, he runs a hand through his hair before climbing out of bed. He grabs his things before walking out of his room to go shower.

Drew walks into the classroom and lets out a soft breath. Kelly is sitting in her seat already, just like so many other times Drew walks in. Drew walks up and sits down beside Kelly in his usual seat.

“Hi,” he says hoping she won’t completely ignore him.

Kelly looks over. “Hi,” she replies.

Drew sighs, knowing that she’s still upset. “I don’t know why you’re so upset.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fine.” Drew shakes his head as he pulls his things out of his bag. “I shouldn’t have to explain myself. This dance is a big deal here. Shouldn’t that be enough?” Drew looks at Kelly when she doesn’t respond. “Very nice Kelly. You go on ignoring me. Just know that if I didn’t have to go, I wouldn’t.”

The moment class ends, Drew isn’t surprised to see Kelly stand up and leave. He turns and watches her walk out. He shoves his things into his bag and walks out of the room himself. He could easily catch up with Kelly, but figures it would be best to let her continue this tantrum. Sooner or later she’ll realize that she can’t stay mad at him forever. So he’ll just bide his time until she figures this out.

Letting out a heavy breath, Drew turns the corner. He can still see Kelly ahead of him. He really wants to catch up with her and demand that she talk to him. But that’s just not who he is. He stops when he reaches his next class and just watches Kelly for a moment. When she disappears into her own class, Drew sighs and walks into the room to his right. This is not the way he wanted anything to go. He hadn’t expected Kelly to get so upset over such a little thing. Okay, when she found out the bigger picture it won’t be such a little thing any longer.

******

Kelly smiles into the mirror as she looks back at Nattie who is doing her hair. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Kelly says.

“What else were you going to do?” Nattie asks. “Besides, you know you’ll get to dance at some point tonight.”

“With who?”

“Wade.” Nattie smiles widely. “He won’t let you not dance.”

Kelly laughs softly. “How will you find him? I mean, I’m sure we’ll be able to pick people out, but…”

“Wade’s picking us up.” Nattie drops her hands. “There. What do you think?”

“I think it’s perfect.” Kelly stands up and motions for Nattie to sit down. “Your turn.” She waits for Nattie to sit before running her fingers through the blonde hair. “Anything specific you want?”

“Nope, just go for it.” Nattie watches Kelly in the mirror as she begins. “According to Wade, Drew isn’t going with anyone.”

“I don’t really care.” Kelly shrugs. She had managed to ignore Drew the entire week. She hasn’t enjoyed not speaking with him, but she’s still upset and embarrassed.

“Right, keep telling yourself that.”

Kelly smiles sadly. She knew Nattie wouldn’t buy it. But she had to try. Okay, she probably didn’t have to because she’d known what Nattie would say. But she couldn’t simply admit it. No, of course she couldn’t. She’s too stubborn for that. Kelly sighs as she starts working on Nattie’s hair.

“I can’t let it bother me,” Kelly finally says. “Why should I let it? In a few weeks I’ll be going home and Drew can go back to his everyday life. It’ll just make things so much easier if I just step back. I’ve already felt too much for him.”

Nattie nods as best as she can. “I think we both have. But I suppose it’s a little different. Because Wade’s pretty much been all over me.”

“I’m happy for you. And I can’t wait until you and I get together in Florida. You’ve become one of my best friends.”

“Right back at you.” Nattie smiles at Kelly in the mirror. “Now get to work.”

Kelly laughs softly. After finishing Nattie’s hair, she takes a step back. “Yes or no?”

“It’s amazing. Now we go get dressed.”

Kelly walks over to her closet and pulls out the garment bag. “I still can’t believe you let me get a dress that shows my boobs.”

Nattie laughs softly. “It’s not like they’re falling out. You have them, so flaunt them.”

Kelly grins and rolls her eyes. “I don’t want people drooling.” Kelly slips the dress on and turns around. “Zip me please.” Kelly holds the back of hair up as Nattie zips the blue dress.

“You’re good. Turn around, I want to see you.”

Kelly drops her hair and turns around. She gives Nattie a questioning look. “It doesn’t show too much does it?”

Nattie shakes her head no. “You look beautiful. Now I need to get dressed.”

Kelly nods as she sits down on her desk chair. Reaching over, she grabs her silver shoes and slips them on. She still can’t believe she’s going to this thing. But being there with Nattie and Wade she does know she’ll have fun. Maybe like this she can at least dance with Drew without feeling like an idiot…if she can find him that is. She just hopes Drew won’t realize it’s her.

“Zip me,” Nattie says stepping over.

Kelly does and smiles. As Nattie turns around, Kelly smiles even wider. “You look beautiful. Wade is going to be floored.”

“He better be.”

Kelly laughs softly. “Well you have nothing to worry about.” She stands up, straightening her dress. “What time is he getting here?”

“Any minute. Good thing we got finished. Otherwise, he’d have to deal with Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”

Kelly grins and picks up her purse. “Maybe we should just make Wade carry all our things in his pockets.”

“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. Masks.”

Kelly takes her mask. “I don’t want to put it on yet.”

“We’ll do it in the car.” Nattie smiles when the bell rings. She quickly walks out of the bedroom.

Kelly grins as she follows Nattie to the front door. She watches Nattie pull the door open revealing Wade. Kelly can’t help but smile as she watches how Nattie reacts to Wade being there. It’s nice to see her so happy. At least one of them can have a happy ending.

“Ladies,” Wade says bowing. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Nattie says. She hooks her arm through Wade’s as she steps outside.

Kelly steps out, closing the door behind her before hooking her arm through Wade’s left arm. “You look very handsome,” she says.

“Thank you,” Wade says. “You both look lovely. I’m one lucky man.”

Kelly laughs softly. She climbs into the back of the limo carefully. She sits and watches Wade slide in and can’t help but laugh softly. “Thank you for bringing me as well.”

“No need to thank me. I was thrilled to hear I’d have two beautiful women on my arms tonight. Not to mention they’re both American.”

Kelly grins and rolls her eyes. “Right, you’re so weird.”

“He is,” Nattie chimes in. “But that’s what’s so special about him.”

Kelly smiles as she watches how Nattie looks at Wade. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

Kelly climbs out of the limo once they reach the hall. She sucks in a deep breath as she hooks her arm through Wade’s once again. He gives her a smile that tells her it’ll be fine. She nods and the three of them make their way inside. Looking around the entrance, she’s surprised to find so many people around.

“Excuse me for a moment ladies,” Wade says. “I have to go say hello to someone.” He throws a look at Nattie, smiling when she nods in return.

Nattie hooks her arm through Kelly’s. “It’s beautiful,” she says.

“It’s amazing,” Kelly replies. She looks over to where Wade had walked over to. “Who’s he talking to?”

Nattie shrugs. “I don’t know. Don’t recognize him. I think we should find Drew though.”

Kelly rolls her eyes. “I wish things were a lot simpler. If I hadn’t…”

“Fallen for him?”

“Yeah. It would be so much easier.”

Nattie grins. “Who wants easy though? Love isn’t supposed to be easy.”

“Yeah, well, this definitely isn’t easy.” Kelly watches as Wade walks back over.

“Sorry about that,” he says. “Are you two ready to head in?”

“Whenever you are,” Nattie answers.

Kelly smiles as they walk through another set of doors. She immediately gasps when she sees the room. “Oh my,” she mutters. She carefully walks down the steps, still holding onto Wade’s arm. She hopes she doesn’t fall as she walks down. That would definitely be something that would be typical of her.

“Stop worrying so much,” Wade says. “I won’t let you fall.”

Kelly grins at him. “Thank you. So how are you going to dance with the two of us?”

“I have two arms.”

“Right, I forgot.” Kelly laughs softly.

It’s a short time later when the announcement comes through that the guests of honor will be coming in. Wade smiles at Nattie and gestures to the bottom of the stairs. Kelly raises an eyebrow as they walk over.

“Why are we coming over here?” she asks quietly.

“They’ll be coming down the stairs. It’s custom that the guests line up,” Wade answers.

“Oh. And you just like being by the stairs?” Kelly shoots him a questioning look.

“Sure.”

“Right.” Kelly grins at Wade. “What are you up to?”

“Me? I’m up to nothing.”

Before Kelly can respond, music starts. She looks up the steps to see a lone bagpiper step in and to the side. After a moment, a man and woman step through.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Much Honored William Galloway and Lady Grace Galloway.”

Kelly watches as they stop at the top of the stairs. When she sees another person step in, she looks over, gasping slightly. She’d recognize that stance anywhere. He looks back and holds his arm out. Kelly watches as a brunette steps in, hooking her arm through his.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Tara Galloway, Maid of Ayrshire and the Much Honored Andrew Galloway.”

Galloway? But…? Kelly sucks in a deep breath as she sees Drew stop at the top of the stairs. No, this can’t be happening. He’s been lying to her this entire time. How couldn’t she have known this?

The four members of the Galloway family start down the steps. Kelly watches as Drew looks their way. How could this be happening? When they reach the bottom, Drew turns toward Tara, lifting her hand to kiss gently.

“Love you big brother,” Tara says.

Drew smiles and nods. “Love you little sister.”

Kelly watches as Tara walks past her and is met by another man. When she looks back, Drew is standing near her. He holds his hand out and bows.

Wade leans over. “Curtsey and take his hand,” he mutters.

Kelly sucks in a deep breath as she curtseys. Reaching forward, she takes Drew’s hand. He smiles as he straightens and slips Kelly’s arm through his as they walk down the aisle. Nattie and Wade had set her up. Drew couldn’t possibly know it’s her though, right? The mask covers enough to cover who she is. She made sure of it. She takes a look back to see Wade and Nattie both smiling at her. Blatant setup. How could she have fallen for it?

When they reach the end of the aisle, Kelly isn’t sure what to do. She glances at Drew who is looking back at her. When she looks ahead of her again, she realizes they’re standing in the middle of the dance floor. No, she has to dance. Drew leans closer.

“Follow my lead,” he says.

Kelly simply nods as she turns toward Drew after dropping her arm. As another song starts on the bagpipes, Drew bows once again. Kelly takes this as her cue to curtsey, so she does. Drew steps forward, sliding once hand to her lower back as he takes her other hand.

“Relax,” he whispers. “Follow my lead.”

Kelly takes a deep breath as they begin stepping with the music. She throws a quick glance over to the other two couples out dancing before looking up and meeting Drew’s gaze. Andrew Galloway, that’s who he really is.

“Turn,” Drew says.

Kelly drops her hand from Drew’s shoulder and allows him to turn her before she replaces her hand on his shoulder. “Is that all you’re going to say to me?” she asks with a smile.

“For now,” Drew answers. The look on his face is almost daring her to say more.

Kelly drops it for now. If he isn’t aware that it’s her, then she’s going to keep it that way. Drew steps back as the song comes to an end, bowing once again. Kelly curtseys and then slides her arm through Drew’s when he offers it to her.

“Now what?” she asks softly.

“Now we eat.” Drew leads Kelly back toward where Nattie and Wade are now standing. He lifts her hand, kissing it gently. “Thank you for the dance.”

Before Kelly can respond, Drew is walking away. She’s about to complain, but she sees Tara walking away from the man she had danced with. Turning, she glares at Wade.

“Did I forget to mention that it’s custom for the children to pick someone to dance with?” he asks.

“Obviously,” Kelly answers. “You set me up. Does he know it’s me?”

Wade shrugs. “If he doesn’t, he’s an idiot. I swear I don’t know. I told him what Nattie told me, that you weren’t coming. Nattie told me last night you were coming and I haven’t seen or talked to him since Thursday.”

Kelly eyes Wade’s cautiously. She doesn’t believe him. But she doesn’t want to argue about this here. So she’ll bide her time until they leave. Wade laughs softly.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t so bad. You enjoyed every moment of that.”

Kelly doesn’t say anything. The truth is she did. She was able to be close with Drew without having to feel awkward.

******

Drew could kill Wade right now. Wade had told him Kelly wouldn’t be here. But he spotted her the moment he looked down from the stairs. His plan was to dance with Nattie. But then he saw Kelly and he couldn’t stop himself. He’s sure that was Wade and Nattie’s plan all along. Letting out a heavy breath, he walks through the crowd, smiling when someone greets him.

When he finally makes it to stairs, he makes his way up. He needs to get some fresh air. Letting out a soft breath, he walks outside. He sees Kelly standing at one end of the steps. He licks his lips and walks over.

“Hi,” he says softly.

Kelly turns around quickly. “You scared me,” she says.

“I apologize.” Drew can’t help but look down at Kelly’s dress. He never thought he’d see her in something so low cut. And he has to force himself to pull his gaze away from her chest. He’s not the kind of man who stares like that. So why did it happen with Kelly? “Forgive me for pulling you away from your friends in there.”

“It’s custom or so I’m told.”

Drew nods. “What brings you out here?”

“Needed some fresh air.”

“You and me both.”

Kelly looks up at Drew. Drew knows the questioning look on her face. If she’ll talk to him after tonight, he’ll try his best to explain what he had wanted to get from not telling her from the beginning.

“I should go back in,” Kelly says.

“Wait,” Drew replies quickly as she starts to walk past him. He watches as Kelly looks at him once again.

“I have nothing else to say to you, Mr. Galloway.”

Drew flinches at that. It’s exactly what he had expected, however he hadn’t expected it to hurt so much. Kelly steps away before turning and walking back inside. Drew growls as he watches her. If he would have just told her from the beginning, this wouldn’t be happening. He should have just been open and honest with her from the start. Why did he have to hide? Right, because he knows how others had reacted. He didn’t want a repeat…not with Kelly.

“So I’m guessing she’s giving you the cold shoulder,” Wade says stepping up next to him.

“Pretty much,” Drew replies. “Not that I blame her. I just hope she’ll let me talk to her and try to explain at some point.”

“Make her listen.”

“Easier said than done. Have you met Kelly?”

Wade laughs softly. “If you really want to talk to her, you’ll find a way. I’m going back in because I owe Nattie a dance. Are you coming?”

Drew sighs and shakes his head. “Not yet. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I just need to stay here and get some fresh air.”

Wade nods. “I’ll see you in there.”

Drew walks around the side of the building so he’s alone and lets out a heavy breath. He can’t believe he let this happen. He knows he only has himself to blame for Kelly being mad at him.

After spending a few more minutes outside, Drew finally makes his way back in. He walks back down the stairs. As he reaches the bottom, he sees Maryse walking toward him. He doesn’t need her to badger him but he can’t run now.

“Saw you dancing with her earlier,” Maryse says smiling.

“What’s your point?” Drew asks.

“She’s going to hate you.” Maryse laughs.

“Thank you very much. As if I hadn’t already figured that out.”

“She’s never going to talk to you again.”

“Are you finished?”

“Not in the slightest.” Maryse steps closer. “You’re getting everything you deserve. You’re selfish and don’t ever care about anyone but yourself. I’m thrilled she won’t talk to you again, because now maybe you’ll feel how you make others feel.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I think I do. You will never be about to make her happy because you will never be able to tell her the truth.”

Drew growls. “Get away from me, now.”

“Oh, poor Drew.” Maryse pats Drew’s cheek. “I feel so sorry for you.” Maryse turns and walks away then.

Drew drags a hand through his hair as he storms away. Could this night get any worse?

Drew lets out a soft breath as he hears the announcement for the last dance. He walks over to where Kelly is standing and holds his hand out. “May I have this dance?” he asks. He knows she will because he knows she won’t want to look like she doesn’t want anything to do with him.

Kelly lets out a soft breath as she takes Drew’s hand. “Okay,” she says softly.

Drew leads her out to the dance floor. “You haven’t danced much,” he says as they begin the dance.

“Not a big dancer…at least without someone to dance with.”

“Well, then I should have gotten to you sooner.” Drew watches Kelly for a moment. He’s not surprised to find her closed off.

“You could have found someone else to dance with.”

Drew shrugs. His next move surprises even him. He leans down and presses his lips to Kelly’s ever so gently. Kelly gasps but doesn’t pull away. In fact, she leans slightly into the kiss. But Drew has to pull back. What is he thinking?

******

Drew rings the bell at Kelly and Nattie’s place before shoving his hands in his pockets. He hopes Nattie will answer. He knows she’ll let him in. When the door opens, he looks up. Nattie smiles at him.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi. Is Kelly…?”

“She’s in our room. She’s really upset.”

Drew nods. “I figured as much.”

“She doesn’t know you realized it was her. I think she’s crazy that she didn’t know. But she was also spending the evening trying not to cry.”

“Can I come in? I need to try to talk to her.”

Nattie steps to the side. “Come on in. She’s in our room. She’s expecting me to come back in so go on in.”

“Thank you Nattie.”

“You’re welcome. Just block her exit.”

Drew nods. He walks into the bedroom he’s become familiar with and closes the door. “Hi,” he says.

Kelly looks over quickly. “Hi,” she replies almost coldly.

“Can we talk?”

Kelly practically glares at him. “I have nothing to say to you Andrew Galloway.”

Drew sighs and nods. “Then at least listen. Let me explain.”

“Explain how you lied to me for four months?”

“Yes…no…yes…Kelly, please.”

“Then start talking.”

Drew leans against the door, not wanting to give her the chance to walk out in the middle of him talking. “Yes, I am Andrew Galloway. No, I didn’t lie when I introduced myself to you as Drew McIntyre. My name is Andrew McIntyre Galloway and yes I am a Laird. The guy you had been hanging out with is the real me. I’m Drew McIntyre…Drew Galloway. The only difference is who I have to be as Drew Galloway. But I’m no different.” Drew sighs. “I know I should have told you. But you have to look at it from my standpoint.”

“Your standpoint? This ought to be good.”

Drew runs a hand over his face. “It was nice having someone to talk to who didn’t fawn over me because I was Drew Galloway. I was wrong and I admit that. But please understand that it’s not easy trying to talk to someone who’s staring at you because of who you are. I’m sorry I hurt you. You have no idea how sorry I am. But I can’t change what I did now. I just know I feel horrible and will do anything to make it up to you.” Drew shrugs. “Maybe I didn’t do things the way I should. But it was nice being able to actually hang out with you and not have you…and don’t take that the wrong way. I do know you now so I know you wouldn’t have cared. But I didn’t at that time. I’m sorry Kelly. I regret not telling you but it’s too late now to take any of it back. Please, just…” Drew watches Kelly for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?”

“Yes. Kelly…”

“So am I.” Kelly shakes her head. “For ever thinking I could trust you. Now get out.”

Drew sighs. “I’m so sorry Kelly. I hope one day you’ll see that I do care about you.” Drew leaves before anything else can be said. He passes Nattie, not bothering to say anything as he walks out. He shuts the door behind him and hurries back toward his own place. Right now, he wants to be alone.

After getting back to his dorm, he walks straight to his bedroom and closes the door. He ignores Wade calling after him and simply flops back on his bed. What is he supposed to do now? Kelly is never going to talk to him again. He doesn’t even blame her. He should have just been open and honest from the beginning. He has definitely screwed up majorly this time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 6**

Kelly zips her bag and takes a deep breath. She can’t believe she’s leaving. She can’t believe she managed to ignore Drew for the last two weeks. It’s not as if he hadn’t tried to talk to her. But she just couldn’t bring herself to actually talk to him. She’s still hurt by what he’d done. Maybe she’s overreacting but she is hurt.

“So, this is it,” Nattie says before sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.

Kelly looks over, mimicking Nattie’s look. “We’ll stay in touch,” she says. “I promise. And we don’t live that far away from each other so we can hang out.

“We better.” Nattie sits down on her bed. “Have you talked to him?”

“Nope. Not going to either. It may sound childish that I’m ignoring him, but he hurt me.”

“I know he did.” Nattie smiles at Kelly. “Wade’s on his way over.”

Kelly grins. “Am I supposed to be surprised? I’m glad. I want to see him before I have to leave.”

“Just remember, he’s mine.”

Laughing softly, Kelly nods. “No need to worry.” Kelly takes a seat after finishing her packing. “I can’t believe this is it.”

“I know! It seems like yesterday that we met.”

Kelly nods in agreement. “When is Wade supposed to get here?”

“Any minute.”

“Good. Because the car will be here in a half hour for me.” Kelly pouts her bottom lip out. “I don’t want to leave yet.”

“I don’t want you to leave yet either.” Nattie moves from her bed to sit down beside Kelly. She wraps her arms around Kelly and laughs softly. “We’ll plan a time to get together sometime this summer.”

“Good.” Kelly grins as she slides her arms around Nattie.

The doorbell rings a few minutes later and Nattie practically runs out of the room. Kelly can’t help but laugh softly. She takes a deep breath knowing it’s almost time for her to leave.

“Miss Kelly,” Wade says walking in.

Kelly looks over at smiles. “Wade,” she says. “You know it’s funny.”

“What is?”

“How much I’m going to miss you. After the way we started out, I didn’t think it would be possible.”

“It’s my charm.”

“Yeah, must be.” Kelly laughs softly as she stands up. “Thank you, Wade.” She wraps her arms around Wade’s neck. “For everything. You’ve been amazing.”

“Right back at you Kelly.” Wade hugs Kelly. “I’m going to miss you, I hope you know that.”

Kelly laughs softly. “I’m gonna miss you too.” She pulls back and smiles up at Wade. “Keep in touch.”

“Right back at ya.” Wade kisses Kelly’s forehead. “I’ll come visit you in Florida.”

“You better.”

Kelly smiles at the driver as he takes her last bag. “Thank you,” she says before turning back toward Nattie and Wade. Deep down, she had hoped she would see Drew here. But she’s really not surprised that he hadn’t shown up. “Well, this is it.”

Nattie walks over and hugs her tight. “I’m going to miss you so much,” she says.

“I’m gonna miss you too. You’ll call when you get home tomorrow?”

“Absolutely.” Nattie pulls back and smiles. “I’m sorry he didn’t show up. I know you were really hoping he would.”

Kelly nods. “I didn’t get my hopes up. I have to go. I’m so glad I got to meet you.”

“Right back at you. Go before I don’t let you.”

Kelly pulls back and looks over at Wade. “Bye Wade.”

“Bye Kelly.” Wade walks over and hugs her. “I’ll see you soon.”

Kelly smiles widely and nods. “Good.” She steps back. “All right, I have to go. I’ll see you soon.” She nods before climbing into the back of the car. As it pulls away, she waves back at Nattie and Wade.

******

Drew zips his bag and lets out a heavy breath. He had sent Kelly a text almost an hour ago, but still hasn’t heard anything back. Not that he should really be surprised. He walks out of his room when he hears the door close. Wade gives him a small wave.

“Did you see Nattie off?” Drew asks.

“Nattie? You idiot,” Wade mutters. “Kelly left today.”

Drew’s heart sinks. There went his chance. “Oh. I thought she was leaving tomorrow.”

“Nattie’s leaving tomorrow.” Wade sighs and shakes his head. “You wanted to see her before she left, didn’t you?”

Drew simply nods before walking back into his room. He missed his chance to right things again. This is typical for him. How is he supposed to right things now?

The next morning, Drew wakes up before his alarm even goes off. He groans and shuts his alarm off so it doesn’t belt out now that he’s awake. Sitting up, he runs a hand over his face. This is going to be a long day. He climbs out of bed and grabs his towel before heading to the bathroom.

“Nattie wants to see you before she leaves,” Wade calls after him as he passes.

Drew sighs. “Okay,” he says and closes the door. He doesn’t really want to go. But at the same point he wants to. He does consider Nattie a friend. He just hopes she’ll talk to him after what happened with Kelly.

A couple hours later, Drew and Wade are walking up to Nattie’s door. Wade rings the bell and bounces on his heels. Drew can’t help but laugh a little. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Wade like this before.

“Hey,” Nattie says after opening the door. “Come in.”

Drew steps in behind Wade and closes the door. He follows them into her room and Drew has to look at Kelly’s side of the room. Empty. He lets out a soft breath as he sits down on what had been Kelly’s bed. Looking over, he’s not completely surprised to see Wade and Nattie looking at him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he mutters. “I’m fine.”

“Uh-huh,” Wade replies.

Drew rolls his eyes. He doesn’t say anything to that because he doesn’t feel like getting into any of it. Instead he just sits there and listens to Wade and Nattie.

A short time later, they’re walking outside. Drew stands back as he watches the driver load Nattie’s things into the trunk. Nattie walks over and hugs Drew. Drew smiles as he slides his arms around her.

“You’ll keep in touch, right?” Nattie asks.

“Of course I will,” Drew answers.

“Good.” Nattie pulls back and smiles up at him. “You are amazing. Even if you are an idiot for not telling us the truth.”

Drew grins and nods. “I regret that.”

“Good, you should.”

Drew laughs softly as he steps back. He watches as Wade hugs Nattie. It still amazes him that Nattie has turned Wade into this kind of man. Wade steps over to stand beside Drew as Nattie climbs into the back of the car. Reaching over, Drew rests his hand on Wade’s shoulder.

“You all right?” Drew asks.

Wade nods. “Yeah. I think we’re going to get together over in July some time.”

“Good.”

“Maybe you can come with.”

Drew shrugs, waving as the car pulls away. “Maybe.” Drew lets out a soft breath. Maybe that could be…no, he has to stop thinking about Kelly. She’s never going to forgive him for what he did.

“Come on Drew,” Wade says pulling him out of his thoughts.

Drew nods and they start heading back toward their dorm. “Well, at least Nattie doesn’t hate me.”

Wade laughs softly. “No, she doesn’t. She’s not completely happy with you, but she doesn’t hate you. Give Kelly some time.”

Drew sighs. “I think it’s going to take a lot more than time for her to forgive me.” He shrugs. “Not that I blame her.”

“You never know.” Wade shrugs. “Just don’t rule anything out right now.”

Drew rolls his eyes. He finds Wade’s statement ridiculous, but can’t say no. “All right, fine.” Of course, he hasn’t figured out how to say no when it comes to Kelly.

“So when are you leaving?” Wade asks.

“Tara is going to be here in about twenty minutes. So whenever we get my stuff packed. How about you?”

“Whenever I get my car packed.”

Drew laughs softly. “Of course. So basically when you decide to not be lazy?”

“I have everything unplugged so it probably won’t be long.”

“This is true.”

Drew closes the trunk of Tara’s car and lets out a soft breath. This is it. He’s done with school. Now maybe he can do his traveling and maybe find his dream job. Of course it would help if he knew what his dream job is.

“Big brother,” Tara says. “Come on.”

Drew looks over and nods. “I’ll be right there.” Drew walks over to where Wade is loading his car. “I’m off. We’ll talk soon.”

“Absolutely,” Wade says. “I’ll let you know about going to Florida. You know you want to go.”

Drew nods a little. “I’ll see you later.” He shakes Wade’s hand. “It’s been fun.”

Wade chuckles. “And then some.”

Drew climbs into the passenger seat of his sister’s car and looks at her. “Thanks for getting me,” he says.

Tara smiles at him. “No problem,” she replies. “Have you talked to her?”

Drew sighs. “I went the next day to talk to her. I explained why I hadn’t told her. But she hasn’t talked to me since. I don’t blame her though.”

“She has to understand though.”

Drew shrugs. “Not really. She’s never had anyone pursue her the way I was. And then I screwed up.”

“I think you should go over there to see her. Maybe that will make her see that you do care about her.” Tara smiles at Drew.

“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. I just need to wait a little while longer before I do anything. She needs space and I’m going to give her that.” Drew looks out the window and lets out a heavy breath. A few thousand miles with an ocean in between should be plenty of space.

******

Kelly zips her bag and can’t help but smile. She’d been back at home for just over a month and she’s kept in touch with both Nattie and Wade regularly. Now she’s going to spend a few days with them in downtown Tampa. They must be crazy to be spending the fourth of July holiday there.

“What time are you leaving?” Barbara asks as she steps into Kelly’s room.

“Nattie will be here in about an hour,” Kelly answers looking over. “We’re heading straight down. Wade’s flight is supposed to land around that time so he should be down there shortly after we get there.” Kelly smiles at Barbara. “Are you still okay with me going?”

Barbara nods. “Of course. Know you can call if you need anything.”

“I know.” Kelly pulls her hair into a low ponytail and smiles again. “You’re just excited that I’m getting out of the house with friends.”

Barbara laughs softly. “Of course I am.”

Kelly watches her mom for a moment. “Mom…”

“I just want to make sure you’re okay. You haven’t talked much about this boy you met over there. But I also know you’re holding back right now. I know he hurt you by not telling you, but it’s obvious you do care about him.”

Kelly nods. “I’m okay.” She shrugs. “Part of me hopes he’ll show up with Wade. But I’ve been ignoring his emails, so he probably won’t. I’m fine though. I think I need this trip.”

“I think you do too.”

Kelly grins. “Thanks mom.”

The doorbell rings almost an hour later and Kelly can’t help but smile widely. This is really it. Nattie’s here and shortly they’ll be on their way downtown. Kelly pulls the door opens and smiles widely when she sees Nattie.

“Hello you,” Nattie says smiling. She steps closer and hugs Kelly.

“Hi,” Kelly says. “Long time not see.”

Nattie laughs softly. Kelly steps to the side and motions for Nattie to come in. As the other woman walks in, Kelly can see her smirking. It’s almost like Nattie is up to something, but Kelly can’t just question her about it. So she brushes it off for now. If she sees the look again, she’ll definitely have to ask about it.

After loading her things in Nattie’s car and saying goodbye to her parents, Kelly slips into the passenger seat. She looks over at Nattie and smiles. And they’re off.

They’re stopped in traffics when Kelly looks over at Nattie. She raises an eyebrow when she sees the look on Nattie’s face. “What’s with you?” Kelly asks. “And don’t tell me Wade. Because there has to be more than just seeing him.”

Nattie’s smile widens. “You’ll see,” is her only response.

Kelly lets out a soft breath. “That’s all you’re going to say?”

“Yep.”

“Really?”

Nattie laughs softly. “Yes.”

“Fine, be that way.” Kelly is a little excited to see what’s really going on. It must be something good if Nattie is getting this excited over it.

Kelly looks out the window as she lets out another soft breath. After a month of being home, she still finds herself thinking of Drew. He’s emailed her regularly, each she saves even though she never responds. She can never bring herself to actually do so.

“Has Wade said anything about Drew?” she asks after a short time. She’s not sure what kind of answer she’s looking for. She just knows she had to ask.

“He says a lot about Drew,” Nattie answers.

Kelly looks over almost surprised. “Like what?”

“Like how he hasn’t been himself lately. According to Wade, he’s barely left the house. Sounds like he’s pretty miserable.”

She doesn’t know if she wants to be happy or sad by this. Sad…as much as he had hurt her, she’d never wish anyone to feeling about being miserable.

“Wait,” Nattie says. “Are you telling me he hasn’t tried to get a hold of you?”

“He emails me. I just never write back.”

“Why?”

Kelly shrugs. “No good reason really.” She looks out the window and sighs. “I had an email typed up yesterday. I just couldn’t bring myself to send it. Maybe I’m being a little childish, but he hurt me and lied to me. How do I know he won’t again?”

“How do you know he will unless you give him a second chance?”

She knows Nattie is right. But even knowing that, she’s not sure she could actually send him the email. It would make things so much easier if she could actually see him again.

After checking into the hotel, Kelly and Nattie get their bags and head up to their room. Kelly can’t believe she’s really here. She would have never imagined she could make it downtown to spend a holiday here.

“Wade is on his way,” Nattie says. “Just got in the taxi and on the road.”

Kelly nods as she begins unpacking. “Wonder how traffic is from that way.”

“He said it was moving, so that’s a good sign. We’ll see how long that lasts.”

Kelly laughs softly. “It is Tampa.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Kelly puts her bag in the corner of the room and lets out a soft breath. She’s happy for Nattie, there’s no doubt about that. But she’s also a little jealous. She wishes…Kelly shakes her head. She has to stop thinking about him because it won’t do her any good.

They are sitting out on the balcony when Nattie’s phone beeps again. She picks it up to read the new text message, smiling the entire time. Kelly can’t help but grin herself.

“He’s here,” Nattie says. “Just got in his room. He’s going to unpack and will meet us downstairs in twenty minutes.”

Kelly nods, smiling at how happy Nattie is right now. She could be happy too. Of course, that’s not going to happen any time soon.

Nattie practically pushes Kelly down the hall and into the elevator, not that she was fighting going. She laughs softly and shakes her head as Nattie starts fidgeting.

“You’d think you haven’t seen him in years instead of weeks the way you’re acting,” she says.

“I’m just excited,” Nattie replies.

“Obviously.”

The doors slide open and they step out. Kelly is looking around trying to spot Wade when Nattie shrieks. She looks over to see Nattie jump into Wade’s arms. But then her eyes dart to the blue ones she’d become so familiar with. He gives her a small smile as he walks toward her. No, this can’t be happening. Is he really here?

“Hello, Kelly,” Drew says as he stops in front of her.

“Drew,” Kelly says softly. “You’re here.”

“In the flesh.”

“But…” Tears sting her eyes and she doesn’t know why she has the sudden urge to cry. “You’re here.”

“We’ve established this already.” Drew reaches over, carefully wiping the tears from Kelly’s cheeks. “I couldn’t stand being away from you any longer.”

Kelly stares up at Drew. “You came all the way over here to see?”

“Well, you and these fireworks Nattie keeps telling me about. But mostly you.”

Kelly can’t stop herself then and throws her arms around his neck as she kisses him. Drew sighs happily into the kiss as he slides his arms around her waist.

“I’m sorry Kelly,” Drew says. “So sorry.”

“Me too,” Kelly says. “I overreacted and should have seen it from your side.”

Drew kisses her again not wanting to let her go just yet. Kelly smiles and tightens her arms around his neck.

“All right you two knock it off,” Wade mutters.

Drew pulls back a little, waving Wade off and smiles down at Kelly. “Does this mean you forgive me?”

“Yes.”

“And this means…” Drew stoops low enough to rest his forehead on Kelly’s. “I could make you happy.”

“Just tell me this isn’t a dream.”

“Definitely not a dream Sunshine.”

Several hours later, they find themselves on the girls’ balcony sitting around and talking. It’s much like they did at the Firth of Clyde. Kelly smiles as she leans against Drew as he slides his arm around her shoulders.

“I take it you like your surprise?” Wade asks.

Kelly smiles widely. “I love my surprise,” she says.

Drew kisses the top of her head. “I’m glad I could surprise you.”

She looks up at him and smiles. He came all the way over here just to be with her. That’s something special. “You could be somebody’s hero.”

“Yours?”

“Mine.”

THE END


End file.
